LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 
Shelf.„.^4 3 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 







-3 

Uncle Samuel and his Young Frtends. 



p. 2. 



RAMBLES 



AMONG THE INSECTS. 



BY THE 

Kev. SAMUEL FINDLEY, D. D., 

CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



K^ 



" Lord, bow manifold are thy works ! in wisdom hast thou made 
them all."— Ps. civ. 24. 




PHILADELPHIA: 

PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION, 

No. 1334 Chestnut Street. 






rrr 



TO HIS 



DEAR WIFE 



THIS VOLUME 



IS MOST AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED 



THE AUTHOR. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year .1878, by 

THE TKUSTEES OF THE 

PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION, 
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



Wfstcott & Thomson, 

Stereotypers and Electrotypers, Philada. 



&L 



INTRODUCTION. 



If my young friends will peruse this book with half 
the pleasure I enjoyed whilst gathering the facts which 
it relates, I shall be abundantly repaid for the labor 
expended in writing it. The air and fields are so 
full of beautiful and sprightly things of life that I 
shall not fail to confer a favor upon intelligent and 
inquisitive boys and girls if I succeed in inspiring 
them with an interest in the study of insect-life. The 
objects embraced in this study are within the reach of 
every one. They intrude themselves into our presence 
uncalled, and at times are most unwelcome. For this 
reason they are despised, and their structure, instincts 
and domestic habits are unstudied. But, like all the 
works of God, they display his wisdom and goodness, 
and are, on this account, worthy of the profoundest 
study. 

I have endeavored to present the history of insects, 
embracing their early life, their structure, instinct, in- 
telligence, cunning, their architectural skill, habits 
and customs at home, care of their young, modes of 
capturing their prey and their wonderful transforma- 
tions, in a simple and attractive style, that my young 
friends may be induced to enter upon the study of in- 
sect-life, and to prosecute it till their familiarity with 

6 



6 INTRODUCTION, 

the subject shall impart to them all the enthusiasm 
of young naturalists. 

In addition to these facts, so interesting in them- 
selves, I have directed special attention to the testi- 
mony they bear to the goodness and wisdom of God in 
adapting the structure and instinct of insects to the 
preservation and happiness of the individuals. I have 
also sought to point out the important lessons of in- 
dustry, perseverance, endurance, economy and foresight 
which their domestic life and habits teach. With what 
success I have accomplished my undertaking the care- 
ful and interested reader must decide. 

I embrace this occasion to acknowledge my great in- 
debtedness to Mr. C. A. Blake, Corresponding Secre- 
tary of the American Entomological Society, for very 
important assistance rendered me in the preparation of 
this work. Before the manuscript was put into the 
hands of the Presbyterian Board of Publication it 
was submitted to his critical examination and review, 
and his criticisms and suggestions were incorporated 
in the book. He has also read the revised proof-sheets, 
and has thus given me the benefit of his extensive and 
accurate knowledge in making it reliable in its classi- 
fication and statement of scientific facts. 

I am also much indebted to the Board of Publica- 
tion for the neat and elegant style in which it has pre- 
sented this book to the public. 

The Author. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

PAGE 

Entomology, what?— Insects, what?— Eggs of Insects— Lace-winged 
Fly— Saw-fly— Dragon-fly 11 

CHAPTER II. 

Mary's Logic— Mistake of a School-teacher — The Caterpillar ; its Struc- 
ture; its Eyes; its Noses; its Clothing — The Chrysalis; origin of 
the word— Cocoons of Isabella Moth; of the Cecropla Moth; of the 
Spotted Pdidnota; of the Di/tisculw— Pupa of the Dragon-fly ; of the 
Tobacco-worm — How Pupa? breathe — Wisdom of God 26 

CHAPTER III. 

Change from the Caterpillar to the Pupal state — Pieris brassiccc spin- 
ning its Cord; waiting its Change; its Pupa — The Butterfly's Es- 
cape from the Pupa ; how it looks when it first sees the Light — Char- 
lie's Reflections — Henry's Carelessness reproved— The Study of 
Insect-life Profitable 41 



CHAPTER IV. 

An Interesting Capture — The Asterias Butterfly ; its Caterpillar; the 
Moulting process ; its change into a Chrysalis; the Perfect Insect; 
where it lays its Eggs; how to destroy the Caterpillar— The Right 
to take the Life of Caterpillars called in question — Arrival of a City 
Cousin 51 



CHAPTER V. 

The Butterfly ; its Wings — Mary rubs off one of the Spots — Nature's 
Coloring-matter — Revelations of the Microscope excite Wonder — 

7 



i CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Scales of Papilio asterias— Wonderful Mosaic— Skill of the Divine Ar- 
chitect— How the Scales are put on the Wing— Why Scales differ in 
Size and Outline— Epicurus not Wise— Argument for the Deity 64 



CHAPTEE VI. 

A Happy Company — Meaning of the word Lepidoptera — Eyes of But- 
terflies—Charlie's Moral Reflections — Why the Butterfly has so many 
Eyes— Why they are not Injured by Sunlight and Dust — Eyes of 
other Insects — The Stemmata— Adaptation of the Butterfly's Eyes 
to their uses — Moral Lessons 80 



CHAPTEE VII. 

Uncle Samuel returns from the City — Butterfly's Antennae — Anten- 
nas of Moths — Number of Joints in an Antenna; Wonderful Skill 
in its Structure — Antennae Scales— Uses of the Antennas— Curious 
Custom of the Rhyssa lunator — Bees' use of their Antennae — Inter- 
esting Story of a Moth — How Bees communicate Intelligence — Re- 
markable Story of a Hungry Ant — Insects as Weather-prophets — 
How these Facts prove the Wisdom and Goodness of God and teach 
us Humility 91 



CHAPTEE VIII. 

The Papilio lurnus — How to prepare Specimens for the Cabinet — The 
Butterfly's Trunk — Bertha's Conjecture— Why called Proboscis ; its 
Structure — A Capital Arrangement — A Lesson of Order — Microscop- 
ical View of the Proboscis — Why God makes Small Objects so Beau- 
tiful—How the Butterfly uses its Trunk— Proboscis of Flies — Les- 
sons taught 104 



CHAPTEE IX. 

Scene in the Family-room— Bible Story about Locusts— Uncle Samuel 
enters ; corrects False Impressions — History of the Cicada septende- 
cim— Colorado Grasshopper ; its Remarkable Career — The Migrato- 
ry Locust ; its Voraciousness — How the Mother-locust lays her Eggs ; 
its wonderful Musical Instrument; its Enemies— The different De- 
vices used to Drive the Locusts from the Country— Singular Story = 
of a Monk in Ethiopia— Vain Scheme of the Arabs— Why called Lo- 
custs— Moral Teachings 116 



CONTENTS. 9 

CHAPTEE X. 

PAGE 

Nest of Moss Humble-bee Discovered; the Insect described— Four 
Families of Eymencptera—, Movr many Classes make up the Humble- 
bees— How the Moss Humble-bee builds its City — The Infant Bee; 
its Pupal state — Description of the Moss Humble-bee's Home; not 
always a Happy Home — Curious Customs of these Bees — Instinct not 
Blind— Wonderful Instinct of the Moss Humble-bee — Ambition to 
do Right recommended 137 



CHAPTEE XL 

Nest of the Andrcna vidua — Work of the Mother-bee ; its Description 
— How the Young are provided with Food — Home of the Tapestry- 
bee ; its Court Dress — How the Nest is lined with Poppy-flowers — 
How the Mother gathers Pollen for her Young — An Attractive Pic- 
ture — MegachUe centuncularis ; its Wonderful History; its Curious 
House — Charlie feels Ashamed of Himself; he will be more Perse- 
vering hereafter — Mechanics among Insects demand our Respect — 
They are Taught by the All-wise 151 



CHAPTEE XII. 

A Mud-nest Found; it is taken to Uncle Samuel, and found to be the 
Nest of the Dauber-wasp — The Black Wasp — Agenia hombycina — 
Dauber-wasp — How the Mother-wasp builds her Nest — Inside View 
of Cells — Wonderful Transformation — Why the Worm is without 
Eyes— Intelligence of the Mother-bee— This Insect teaches Perse- 
verance and Trust in God 165 



CHAPTEE XIII. 

The Ants— Wonderful Insects — Live in Communities— Grub — Work- 
ers — Ants make War with each other — Story of an Ant-war— Ant- 
hills— Ants' Cows— Slaveholding Ants— Slave Ants— The Driver Ants 
— Agricultural Ants of Texas ; their Farm — How they take care of 
their Harvest — Grand Works of the Ants — They teach us System.... 176 



CHAPTEE XIV. 

Visiting Ants; enter Houses without Knocking— Inhabitants Flee 
before them — White Ants misnamed — Belong to the Neuroptcra — 



i CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Scales of Papilio aster ias— Wonderful Mosaic— Skill of the Divine Ar- 
chitect— How the Scales are put on the Wing— Why Scales differ in 
Size and Outline— Epicurus not Wise— Argument for the Deity 64 



CHAPTEE VI. 

A Happy Company— Meaning of the word Lepldoptera — Eyes of But- 
terflies—Charlie's Moral Reflections— Why the Butterfly has so many 
Eyes— Why they are not Injured by Sunlight and Dust — Eyes of 
other Insects — The Stemmata— Adaptation of the Butterfly's Eyes 
to their uses — Moral Lessons 80 



CHAPTEE VII. 

Uncle Samuel returns from the City — Butterfly's Antenna? — Anten- 
nae of Moths — ISumber of Joints in an Antenna; Wonderful Skill 
in its Structure — Antennae Scales— Uses of the Antennae— Curious 
Custom of the Ehyssa lunator — Bees' use of their Antennae — Inter- 
esting Story of a Moth — How Bees communicate Intelligence — Re- 
markable Story of a Hungry Ant — Insects as Weather-prophets — 
How these Facts prove the Wisdom and Goodness of God and teach 
us Humility 91 



CHAPTEE VIII. 

The Papilio iurnvs — How to prepare Specimens for the Cabinet — The 
Butterfly's Trunk — Bertha's Conjecture— Why called Proboscis ; its 
Structure — A Capital Arrangement — A Lesson of Order — Microscop- 
ical Yiew of the Proboscis — Why God makes Small Objects so Beau- 
tiful — How the Butterfly uses its Trunk — Proboscis of Flies— Les- 
sons taught 104 



CHAPTEE IX. 

Scene in the Family-room— Bible Story about Locusts— Uncle Samuel 
enters ; corrects False Impressions — History of the Cicada septende- 
aim— Colorado Grasshopper ; its Remarkable Career — The Migrato- 
ry Locust ; its Voraciousness — How the Mother-locust lays her Eggs; 
its wonderful Musical Instrument; its Enemies— The different De- 
vices used to Drive the Locusts from the Country— Singular Story 
of a Monk in Ethiopia— Vain Scheme of the Arabs— Why called Lo- 
custs— Moral Teachings 116 



CONTENTS. 9 

CHAPTEE X. 

PAGE 

Nest of Moss Humble-bee Discovered; the Insect described— Four 
Families of Hymenoptera—, How many Classes make up the Humble- 
bees— How the Moss Humble-bee builds its City — The Infant Bee; 
its Pupal state— Description of the Moss Humble-bee's Home; not 
always a Happy Home — Curious Customs of these Bees— Instinct not 
Blind— Wonderful Instinct of the Moss Humble-bee — Ambition to 
do Right recommended 137 



CHAPTEE XL 

Nest of the Andrcna vicina — Work of the Mother-bee ; its Description 
— How the Young are provided with Food — Home of the Tapestry- 
bee ; its Court Dress — How the Nest is lined with Poppy-flowers — 
How the Mother gathers Pollen for her Young— An Attractive Pic- 
ture — Megachile centuncularis ; its Wonderful History; its Curious 
House — Charlie feels Ashamed of Himself; he will be more Perse- 
vering hereafter — Mechanics among Insects demand our Respect — 
They are Taught by the All-wise 151 



CHAPTEE XII. 

A Mud-nest Found; it is taken to Uncle Samuel, and found to be the 
Nest of the Dauber-wasp — The Black Wasp — Agenia bombycina — 
Dauber-wasp — How the Mother-wasp builds her Nest — Inside View 
of Cells — Wonderful Transformation — Why the Worm is without 
Eyes— Intelligence of the Mother-bee— This Insect teaches Perse- 
verance and Trust in God 165 



CHAPTEE XIII. 

The Ants— Wonderful Insects— Live in Communities— Grub — Work- 
ers — Ants make War with each other — Story of an Ant-war— Ant- 
hills— Ants' Cows— Slaveholding Ants— Slave Ants— The Driver Ants 
— Agricultural Ants of Texas ; their Farm — How they take care of 
their Harvest — Grand Works of the Ants — They teach us System.... 176 



CHAPTEE XIV. 

Visiting Ants; enter Houses without Knocking— Inhabitants Flee 
before them — White Ants misnamed— Belong to the Neuropiera — 



10 CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Tmnps lucifugum ; how they Establish their Empires— Dwellings of 
the Termes bellicosus of Africa— Why called Termites— Wonderful 
Size of a Termite Queen— Enemies of the Termites— Termites as 
Food— Wisdom of God shown in his putting bounds to the Increase 
of the White Ants 193 

CHAPTEE XY. 

Home of the Ant-Lion— The Clumsy Grub of the Ant-lion ; how it 
catches Ants — Charlie's Moral Reflections— A Spider in the Ant- 
lion's Pit — Growth and Transformations of the Ant-lion Grub — 
Why doubt the Heavenly Life awaiting the Christian ? — How Ant- 
lion Philosophers might Reason— Goodness of God— The Ant-lion 
never borrows Trouble — Practical Lessons 205 

CHAPTEE XVI 

One of the Anakim— The Bombycidce— The Caterpillar and its Silken 
Cocoon — The genus Telea, group Attaci — the A. polyphemits — An old 
Fable— The Silkworm Moth; its Value discovered by a Chinese 
Queen— Julius Csesar introduced Silk into Rome— Eggs brought to 
Constantinople by Monks— Silk-culture in Greece, France and Eng- 
land — Transformations of Silkworm — Unity of Design proven from 
the Adaptation of Silk to the wants of Man— Reflections 219 

CHAPTEE XVII. 

Spiders not true Insects; origin of their Family Name, Arachnidcc ; 
their wonderful Spinning-machine — Spider's Foot magnified — The 
Spider gets its Living honestly— Why called a Geometrician— Struc- 
ture of its Web — Moral Spider-webs — Mygale nidulans — Mygale ce- 
mentaria; its Cunning evidence of Intelligent Design — Moral Sug- 
gestions — Influence of the Study of Natural History 237 

CHAPTEE XVIII. 

The Water-spider— History of the Argyroneta aqvatica— Story of the 
Ancient Nymphs— How this Spider builds its Air-castle under 
Water— The Water-spider at Home — Charlie learns a Lesson of 
Courage in Face of Difficulties — The Raft-spider, Dolomedes fimbria- 
tun ; how it builds its Raft ; always looking out for its Prey ; thought- 
less Insects its Victims — The great Spiritual Raft-spider — Raft- 
spider's Mission— Moral— Supper-bell closes the Talk— Something 
about the Progress of our Young Naturalists in their Study of Nat- 
ural History — Close of the Story of Uncle Samuel's Rambles 253 

CHAPTEE XIX. 

Directions to Insect-hunters — Chief "Requisite, Enthusiasm — Nets— Set- 
ting-boards — Pins— "Where to find Butterflies and Moths — Farewell to 
Readers 270 



Rambles among Insects. 



CHAPTER I. 



ENTOMOLOGY, WHAT ? — INSECTS, WHAT ? — EGGS OF 
INSECTS — LACE-WINGED FLY — SAW-FLY — DRAGON- 
FLY. 

OXE very pleasant evening in the month of April 
Uncle Samuel was sitting on the piazza admiring 
the beauty of the vegetation, which was just putting 
on its spring attire, and listening to the merry songs 
of the birds, that had so lately returned to their 
former haunts, and were industriously engaged in 
building cozy little homes for themselves and their 
families. But Uncle Samuel was not to remain un- 
disturbed, for just then his sister's children, Charlie, 
Henry, James and Mary, coming home from school, 
broke in upon his meditations by their usual inquis- 
itiveness. 

" I found a word in my lesson to-day, uncle/' 
said James, "that I didn't understand. Do you 
think it right to put such big words in books made 
for children as young as I am ? Such words just 
puzzle boys' brains, if they have any. I don't 

11 



12 RAMBLES AMONG IXSECTS. 

think it fair. I know I just blunder on them, 
that's all, and I don't know what they mean when 
I do pronounce them. Our reading lesson was 
about some thing or someplace called Entomology. 
I don't know whether it is a country or not. If it 
is, it would be a good place to go to catch all kinds 
of insects, for there are a great many found there — 
some very beautiful, and others just as ugly and 
bad as they can be. Now do tell us what Ento- 
mology is." 

Now, Charlie had studied a little Latin and 
Greek, and had learned something about the deri- 
vation of words, and how the meaning of com- 
pound words is taken from the parts of which they 
were composed. So, as soon as James was through, 
he said, 

" I think I can answer that question myself. 
Entomology comes from two Greek words,* and 
is the name of the science that treats of insects. 
It tells us about their structure and their habits 
and instincts, just as geography tells us about the 
earth and its rivers and oceans and mountains and 
plains and countries. — Am I right, uncle ?" 

" Yes, you have given us its meaning correctly, 
and I am glad to see that you make a practical use 
of your knowledge of language. And as to putting 
' big ' words in books for children, of which James 
complains, it is all right w r hen they are better than 
any other words that can be used. When you know 

* Entoma, insects, and logos, discourse. 



WHAT IS SECTS ARE. 13 

their meaning, 'big' words are as easily understood 
as ' little ' words, and often more expressive. Do 
you understand what entomology is now, James ?" 

" I think I do. It isn't a place where any per- 
son lives and where insects are found, but it is a 
study like arithmetic and geography. It won't 
puzzle my brains any more." 

"Since you have mentioned entomology," said 
Uncle Samuel, " I remember my promise that when 
I would come to see you I would take a ramble with 
you occasionally among the insects. You are sur- 
rounded by beautiful woods and valleys and mea- 
dows, where insects like to live, so that we may visit 
their homes and learn how they are built. I can 
tell you a great many interesting stories about how 
they keep house and about their music — for there 
are several bands of musicians among the insects — 
and about the way they walk and fly and leap, and 
about their wisdom and their cunning tricks." 

" Oh, do tell us !" said Marv. " I like stories so 
much. But what are insects? Do you mean the 
little ugly bugs I hate so much ? I am sure they 
won't make nice stories. Mother says bugs were 
never made for any good, but only to vex us and 
make us angry." 

" You ought not to hate anything, my dear Mary, 
that a kind and good God has made. He made all 
things very good. It is sin that has made anything 
bad. When I speak of insects, I include bugs, for 
bugs are part of the great household of insects. 



14 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

But ugly and bad as many of them seem to you, if 
you only knew more about them you would love and 
admire them. There are some very ugly and bad 
boys and girls, who seem to live only to torment 
and vex their schoolmates ; but you don't hate all 
boys and girls on that account. 

"But I must answer your question about insects. 
An insect is a small animal whose body is made up 
of several parts, like rings jointed together, so as to 
move on each other. A caterpillar is an insect, be- 
cause it is made up of several ring-like divisions 
which it draws into each other when it is in motion. 
A wasp is an insect. Its head is joined to its body 
by a fine thread, and its body is joined to its abdo- 
men by a very slender cord. Bees, ants, butterflies, 
beetles, crickets, dragon -flies and mosquitoes are all 
insects. Among such interesting little creatures as 
these we shall have our ramble, picking one up 
here and there, examining it, learning all we can 
about its structure and its history, and what kind 
of habits it has." 

"Why are flies and bees and ants and all the 
other things you named called insects f Wouldn't 
some other name do just as well?" asked fidgety 
little Miss Mary, who had been restless for some 
time, waiting for a stopping-place in Uncle Sam- 
uel's long talk. 

" That's right, little inquisitive ; don't let me go 
on too fast for you. There is a reason why the 
word insect is used as the name of these little 



WHAT INSECTS ARE. 15 

animals rather than any other word, and Mary 
ought to know it." 

" I think I know the reason/' said Charlie. Now, 
Charlie took great delight in finding out the reason 
of things, and was specially interested in the study 
of words, and was always ready to give his opinion. 
" It is derived from a Latin word * which means 
' cut into/ and I think it describes flies and bees 
and wasps and such creatures better than any other 
name, for some of them look as if they were t cut 
into' in more places than one. Look at this fly, 
Mary ; its head is almost separated from its body. 
Does it not look as if somebody had almost cut it 
in two?" 

" Oh, I see now," said Mary ; " they just make be- 
lieve somebody has cut them in two, and call them- 
selves insects. I understand." 

"I am glad Charlie has so well convinced you 
that these familiar friends whose homes we propose 
to visit have been wisely named. You will find it 
capital fun and healthful exercise to chase butter- 
flies and hunt beetles under stones, and to watch 
caterpillars when they are eating and spinning, and 
wasps building their houses. I will go with you to 
the woods sometimes, and we shall have many 
glorious rambles together." 

" I remember," said Henry, " how James and I 
chased butterflies last summer in our meadow. One 
day we saw a beautiful one with black wings 
* Iitseclum, from inseco, to cut into. 



16 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

marked around the edges with yellow spots, and 
a tail divided like a swallow's. When I caught 
it, James cried out, ' Oh how splendid ! Isn't it 
a beauty? The dear little thing ! How I wish I 
could pet it and have it all for ray own !' But it 
was a beauty, though ! Well, we put it under a glass, 
and it fluttered about and knocked almost all the 
paint off its wings and broke pieces out of them. 
I was so sorry. One day mother took the glass 
away, but the poor thing did not live long to enjoy 
its freedom." 

" I heard you say once that you hated caterpil- 
lars, they were so ugly," said Uncle Samuel. " Now, 
that very beautiful butterfly was in its early 
life a caterpillar, and it was just as splendidly 
adorned when it crawled as when it flew. When 
it was a caterpillar, its body was a brilliant green, 
having a yellow stripe on each side and a row of 
blue dots, while its under side and its feet were red- 
dish. It feeds on the leaves of the sassafras, where 
you may happen to find it in the summer. This 
beautiful and tasteful caterpillar will excite your 
admiration when you study it as much as you did 
the butterfly you captured. 

" I am glad that you observed the markings of 
your imprisoned butterfly as closely as you did. I 
want you to go through the world with your eyes 
open, and your minds awake and ready to learn. 
There are beautiful objects all around you if you 
would but look at them. There are lessons to learn 



INSECTS WITH TRADES. 17 

from the tiniest insect if you would only read the 
book that nature spreads wide open before you. 
And there is no department in nature you can 
study more easily than the insect-world. It is 
peopled with immense multitudes of interesting ob- 
jects, w T hich you can readily collect and examine, 
and by close observation you can become familiar 
with their various instincts and habits. 

"One of the wonderful things about insects is 
that they follow different trades and employments 
as men do. But they are not all industrious. Some 
are idle, and, like idle men, have but little of their 
own to live on. A man who was well acquainted 
with insect-life describes their trades and occupa- 
tions in this way : i Here we see the industrious 
laborer busy at his work, there the lazy, lounging 
beggar ; here, up on the leafy boughs or before the 
gates of their subterranean abodes, myriads of musi- 
cians are playing their fiddles, and there the skillful 
architect is building his wonderful dwelling ; while 
above, in the blue sky, flutters a high nobility clad 
in gold, silver, purple and silk, fed on the nectar 
of flowers, and on the earth below are lurking 
troublesome drones and disgusting parasites/ " 

u What do you mean by subterramean abodes f 
asked little Mary. 

" Sub-terranea/i is the word, and it means under 
the ground, and abodes means homes. ( Subterranean 
abodes ' are the homes that some insects make for 
themselves under the ground. Men have such 

2 



18 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

homes out West. They call them c dug-outs/ In- 
sects that live in i dug-outs ' sometimes open their 
doors and sit down before them and fill the air with 
their music. Their music is not very attractive to 
us, but it pleases the taste of the little creatures who 
make it." 

" But what's the use of learning anything about 
insects/' continued Mary, "when mother says they 
are good for nothing but pests?" 

" Your mother means the mischievous insects 
which destroy our gardens and eat up what we 
want for our own use, or annoy us with their un- 
welcome music, or jag us with their poisonous stings. 
But all insects are not pests. There are a great 
many good insects. Some are used by us for color- 
ing-matter and medicine and food, and some are 
kind enough to spin fine silk for thread and cloth- 
ing ; some spend all their days taking away dead 
animals and other filth, so as to keep the air we 
breathe pure and save us from sickness and death. 
Now, we ought not to class all these friendly insects 
with those that are doing us all the harm they can. 
We should know our insect friends as well as our 
insect enemies. There is a very good reason, there- 
fore, w r hy we should learn all we can about insects, 
so that we may keep our enemies from doing us in- 
jury, and give our friends a chance to do us all the 
good they can. There is another thing we must 
not lose sight of in our study of insects, and that 
is the wisdom and goodness of God in giving fore- 



EGGS OF INSECTS. 19 

sight and skill to them, so that they not only take 
good care of themselves, but know how to provide 
for their offspring. We must never forget that all 
the insects are praising God every day, and we 
ought to learn from them to love and praise him 
daily." 

At the invitation of their uncle the children went 
into his studio, where he had his fine microscope, 
with which he was ready to show to his interested 
young friends enlarged views of the minute parts 
of insects, and thus more fully exhibit to them the 
wonderful skill and wisdom of their Creator. He 
placed a few insect eggs under the microscope and 
called his young pupils to examine them. 

" How r beautiful !" exclaimed Henry. " They are 
carved as though some skillful artist had made 
them. Who would have thought that such splen- 
did eggs could come from insects ?" 

" You see," said Uncle Samuel, " how the good 
God takes delight in making his works, even the 
most minute, very beautiful. It is just as easy for 
him to adorn an insect's egs; with carved work and 
with different colors, such as w r hite, orange, blue, 
red and green, as to make them smooth and white, 
or black only. I will show you a variety of eggs, 
each one possessing a shape and color and carving 
peculiar to itself. But here is one that has a spe- 
cial arrangement for the convenience of the little 
worm when it is ready to leave its birthplace and 
go out into the world to make its ow T n living. It 



20 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

has a lid, which the worm has just opened on its 
way out of the egg. Now, this lid is a contrivance 
showing design and proving the wisdom and skill 
of the Creator in the structure of 
the egg. It has a hinge by which 
it is fastened to one side of the 
opening, and while the little worm 
is growing within the egg the lid is 
secured to the other side of the open- 
ing by strong fastenings. When 
the worm is ready to escape, it 
knows just how to unfasten the 
door that confines it in its prison. 
The lids of some insects' eggs are 
so fastened to all sides of the open- 
ly. i.-an ego [ n g that the worm pushes them open 
by force ; others are held down by 
a spring, which the insect touches jusc in the right 
way and the right time." 

"Are all insects' eggs provided with such a con- 
venient door for the escape of the little worm?" 
asked Charlie. 

" Not all. Very many insects are under the ne- 
cessity of gnawing their way out of the egg very 
much as the little chick pecks its way out of its egg. 
Insects that pass the first period of their life in 
water — like the young of the gnat and mosquito — 
always make their escape from the lower end of the 
egg directly into the water. This is a wise instinct; 
for if they should make a mistake and crawl out on 




THEIR EGGS. 21 

the ground, they would die, because they cannot 
breathe out of water/' 

" Does their mother take care of the little baby- 
insects and feed them ?" asked Mary. 

" The mothers of most insects," answered Uncle 
Samuel, " never see their offspring, and would not 
know them if they did, they are so unlike their pa- 
rents in shape and habits of life. So they do not feed 
their little baby-insects; but some insect-mothers lay 
up enough good, rich food for their young just where 
they can get it as soon as they leave the egg, and 
others lay their eggs on the trees and plants, on the 
leaves of which their young worms feed. The but- 
terfly has no relish for the coarse food on which its 
caterpillar lives and grows ; yet when she is ready 
to lay her eggs, as though she remembered what 
she ate when a young crawling worm, she carefully 
selects the very kind of tree or plant on which she 
once fed, and there deposits her eggs. So when the 
young leave the egg they find themselves surrounded 
with the very kind of food they need. Is not this 
very kind and thoughtful in the butterfly ? 

" But this is not all that the mother does for her 
offspring. She provides against any injury that 
may threaten her eggs by covering them with a 
substance like glue, which fastens them to the limb 
and protects them from being washed off by hard 
rains. Some insect-mothers pluck from their own 
bodies all the soft down, and with it cover their eggs, 
so as to protect them from freezing during the cold 



22 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

winter. Then, having done all they can for their 
offspring, they lie down and die. 

" There are certain insects that are very fond of 
the eggs of certain other insects, and eat them when- 
ever they can find them. The lace-winged fly, 
called Chrysopa perla, seems to be aware of this 
fact, and she has been taught by her Creator a very 
cunning way of placing her eggs out of the reach 




Fig. 2.— The Chrysopa perla, or Lace-winged Fly of Europe. 
The perfect insect, the larva, the eggs. 

of such egg-loving insects. The cut represents the 
eggs, larva and adult of this fly. The wings of 
one side only are seen. 

" The young of the perla live on plant-lice, so 
the thoughtful mother selects a plant infested by 
lice for the roving-place of her offspring, that they 
may find plenty of food near them as soon as they 
enter the world. Her next care is to protect her 
eggs from their enemies. To effect this she fastens 
a long slender hair to a leaf, at the end of which 
she places a small orange-colored egg. A group 
of eggs is thus fixed to a single leaf, so as to seem 
to be a small tuft of moss in blossom, while the 
eggs are far out of the reach of their foes. As soon 



THEIR EGGS. 23 

as the young grub appears it crawls along the hair to 
the leaf and commences to eat the plant-lice ; and 
being provided with a pair of large, curved, sharp 
teeth, moving sidewise, each pierced with a hole, 
through which it sucks the juices of its victims, 
it makes great havoc among the ugly things. 

"Some insects have an instrument like a saw, 
with which they cut a slit in the bark of a young 
shoot, in which they lay their eggs, covering them 
immediately with a greenish fluid taken from their 
mouth, and which hardens on exposure to the air. 
Mr. R. H. Lewis tells a wonderful story about a 
saw-fly which he observed in Australia. The 
mother deposits her eggs in a slit in a leaf, and 
then sits on the leaf till the grubs — the young 
saw-flies — are hatched. After they leave the egg 
she follows them, covering them with her legs just 
as a hen covers her chickens, and protecting them 
from their enemies with kind motherly tenderness 
and perseverance. 

" The little young dragon-fly, or snake-feeder, 
lives under water, while its mother dwells in the air 
and cannot live a minute in the water. How do 
you think she is able to provide for her offspring ? 
I will tell you. Her tail is very long. When she 
is ready to lay her eggs, she flies to the side of some 
pond and lights on a water-plant. Here she makes 
her observations. If it is a suitable plant for her 
purpose, she climbs down the stem till she reaches 
the surface of the water. If you were near and 



24 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

could understand her language, you would be very 
apt to hear her saying to herself something like 
this: 

" i My little children, when they come out of the 
egg, cannot live in this bright, clear atmosphere. 
They must live and grow at the bottom of the pond, 
just as I did in the days of my grubhood. I will 
therefore lay my eggs on this plant under the sur- 
face of the water, so that when they hatch out they 
will be just where they will spend the days and 
nights of their early life/ And when she closes 
her little speech, she puts her long body in the 
water and lays her eggs on the plant, some dis- 
tance below the surface." 

" What wonderful stories you tell, uncle, about 
the cunning and forethought of insects!" said 
Henry. " I think I shall become very fond of 
the study of insect-life. It seems to me they 
must have a real good time aniong themselves. 
And their mothers are so kind, providing food 
and everything nice for their children. But then 
they don't live to see their children, poor things ! I 
should think the young insects would wonder where 
they came from and how they got there, with no 
mother to tell them." 

" Isn't it strange," said James, "that they all 
know just what to do as soon as they get out of 
the egg, and haven't to be nursed as we are when 
we are young ? I think they must be very wise 
indeed." 



Til FAR EGGS. 25 

"I 'spect God tells them," said Mary. "He 
knows." 

" Very well said, little thoughtful," said Uncle 
Samuel with a smile of approval. "That's about 
all we can know just now about how these little 
insects come to have so much knowledge. Now, 
since you are all so much interested in the wonder- 
ful facts I have told you, I think we can promise 
ourselves a rich time during my long stay w T ith you. 
I have brought with me my fine collection of home 
and foreign insects, and a number of interesting 
books on insects, and my microscope and butterfly- 
nets, and we w ill have many talks and rambles to- 
gether, which I know you will enjoy. And while 
you will be finding out curious facts about insects, 
you will also be learning more than you have ever 
known before concerning the wisdom and goodness 
of God in teaching insects how 7 to take care of them- 
selves, to build their own houses, and to provide for 
their own offspring." 



CHAPTEE II. 

MARY'S LOGIC — MISTAKE OF A SCHOOL-TEACHER — 

THE CATERPILLAR — ITS STRUCTURE — ITS EYES 

ITS NOSES — ITS CLOTHING THE CHRYSALIS — ORI- 
GIN OF THE WORD COCOONS OF ISABELLA MOTH 

OF THE CECROPIA MOTH — OF THE SPOTTED 

PELIDNOTA — OF THE DYTISCIDiE — PUPA OF THE 
DRAGON-FLY — OF THE TOBACCO-WORM — HOW PU- 
P^E BREATHE — WISDOM OF GOD. 

" T\rELL, I can't understand it, anyhow. Uncle 
* » says that the little baby-butterfly is a worm 
— a caterpillar — and not a butterfly at all. Now, 
how can that be, when it is a butterfly that lays the 
egg, and not a caterpillar ? I'd like to know that. 
I think an ever-so-little butterfly ought to come out 
of a butterfly's egg, just as a little chick conies from 
a hen's egg. Uncle would not tell what was not 
true, I know, but I can't just see how it can be 
as he says." 

Mary was thus arguing with her brothers against 
what had been told them at the last conversation 
about the young of the butterfly being so very differ- 
ent in appearance from its mother that she would not 
recognize it as a member of her family if she saw 
it, when Uncle Samuel appeared and took his seat 

26 



THE CATERPILLAR. 27 

in the cozy study-chair his sister had kindly pro- 
vided for him. It was not long before he fully 
understood the nature of the controversy and the 
position Mary had taken ; and drawing her to his 
side and putting his right arm around her affection- 
ately, he said : 

" I am so very much pleased with my little niece 
because she is not willing right away to believe 
everything just because, and only because, her uncle 
says it is so. While his word ought to be good evi- 
dence, I am glad she wants to know how he knows 
that the strange facts he has told about insects are 
true. It does seem as if a little butterfly should be 
hatched out of a butterfly's egg. 

" I heard a school-teacher once tell a house full 
of people that he found a butterfly's egg once on a 
hop-vine, and that he put it away, and after a long 
time a beautiful butterfly came out of it. Now, if 
a teacher of little girls would tell such a story as 
that, I do not wonder that my little niece would 
believe it to be true. But it wasn't a butterfly's egg 
that he found — it w T as a butterfly's chrysalis; and 
that was the mistake he made. 

"The way we know that a caterpillar is hatched 
from a butterfly's egg is by seeing the little worm 
coming out of the egg, and watching it growing 
bigger and bigger until it quits being a caterpillar, 
and, changing its form altogether, it becomes a 
beautiful butterflv, sailing on its broad, light wings 
like 



28 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

1 A winged flower or a flying gem.' 

I did not tell you any ( big story ' just because you 
were young and might be deceived, but a strange, 
yet a true, story." 

" Tell us, uncle, about the caterpillar. Why do 
people call the little butterfly a caterpillar ? I think 
it ought to be called its right name if it isn't like its 
mother." So reasoned Mary. 

" Well, my young philosopher, you seem to be 
very critical. If a young hen is called a chick, and 
a little child is called a babe, and not a man, you 
ought to expect that the young of the butterfly 
would have some different name given it. Its 
name is derived from its character. It is a great 
destroyer of the leaves of garden-plants and trees ; 
hence the English people gave a name to it made 
up of two words borrowed from the French, and 
which mean, when put together, garden-robber or 
plant-destroyer. The French people call it by a 
name that means evil-doer. So you see its bad cha- 
racter has given it a bad name. You should all re- 
member this, for, like the caterpillar, boys and girls 
make a name for themselves by the kind of character 
they have. Caterpillars are great eaters. They often 
consume in twenty-four hours double their own weight 
in food. Is it any wonder they grow rapidly ? Their 
form is well suited to their mode of life, and they 
have some singular habits which make them some- 
times more interesting objects of study than when, 
gifted with their large and beautiful wings, 



THE CATERPILLAR. 29 

1 They through the blue air wander.' 

" The body of a caterpillar is very soft and plia- 
ble, made up usually of twelve segments or rings. 
These rings fold on each other when the caterpillar 
walks. The head is very hard, and is provided 
with strong and powerful jaws, which cut the leaves 
on which it feeds very much as a pair of scissors 
would do. These jaws are called its mandibles, I 
want you to learn and remember the names by which 
the different parts of an insect are known by persons 
who write about them, so that you can read and un- 
derstand the books that are written on this subject. 
Charlie will find use for all that he knows of Latin 
and Greek in the study of insects, because the terms 
used in this study are derived chiefly from these 
languages." 

" Can a caterpillar see ?" asked Mary. u I never 
saw any eyes in its head." 

" By close inspection you will find in a circle on 
each side of a caterpillar's head six small black 
spots. These spots are supposed to be its eyes. 
We know it is not blind, for it searches for its food 
and knows just where to go for it. There are some 
grubs that are hatched in close, dark rooms, and 
have their food put in these rooms and lying all 
around them, and who do not need any eyes. These 
are blind till they get their wings, and then the 
good God gives them large and beautiful eyes, for 
they could not enjoy life without them." 

"I have often wondered how a caterpillar 



30 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

breathes/' said Henry. " I am sure it has no nose, 
like a horse or a dog." 

" It has that which answers the same purpose, if 
it is not the same in shape and position. Take up 
the first caterpillar you find and look carefully along 
its side a little below the middle, and you will dis- 
cover a row of spiracles — that is, breathing-holes — 
on each side of the caterpillar. These spiracles are 
found on nine of the segments, or rings composing 
its body, two on each segment, making eighteen in 
all. Each spiracle is surrounded with a colored ring, 
which -adds to the beauty of the caterpillar. So, 
despised as a caterpillar is, it is provided with more 
noses than you are. Whether it has the sense of 
smell or not is not so easy to decide. 

" Caterpillars are not all colored or marked alike. 
Their dress depends upon their species. Some are 
smooth and almost as transparent as glass; others are 
covered with hair, thickly set or in tufts; while some 
have horn-like spines, which make them look very 
frightful indeed. Some very homely caterpillars 
grow up into very handsome butterflies, so that you 
cannot conjecture from the appearance of the cater- 
pillar what will be the size and color of the butterfly 
unless you are acquainted with its entire history. 

" The young of the beetle are called grubs, and 
the general name of the young of all insects is larvce. 
This word is the plural of larva, a Latin word that 
means mask. This name is used because in the cat- 
erpillar and grub the perfect insect is supposed to 



THE CATERPILLAR. 31 

be covered up as by a mask. Indeed, this has been 
proved to be the feet by an eminent naturalist who 
dissected a caterpillar, and found enclosed in its 
body all the parts of the perfect butterfly just wait- 
ing its time." 

"Does the caterpillar grow up into a butterfly 
just as a boy grows to be a man?" asked James. 
" If so, I think we would see its wings just begin- 
ning to grow, and its long legs, just as the beard 
begins to grow on a boy's face. I can't see how it 
changes its form so much." 

"You remember," answered Uncle Samuel, "that 
strangely-formed thing you once found hanging on 
the hop-vine, and how you admired it because of 
its beautiful gold markings? That was once a cat- 
erpillar, and lived on the leaves of the hop. "When 
it had grown to its full length and its caterpillar 
days were all numbered, it fastened itself to a branch 
of the vine, where it gradually changed itself into 
the form which attracted your attention. Now it 
is neither a caterpillar nor a butterfly, but the but- 
terfly is shut up in its golden-marked case, and is 
only waiting spring-time to break away from its 
prison and fly away through the air, a more hand- 
some and joyous insect than it ever was. 

" This is the third stage in the life of the butter- 
fly, and it is now called chrysalis, which means a 
golden sheath, from a Greek word that means gold. 
It takes its name from the golden spots which are 
on the outside of the sheath. It is also called a 



32 



RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 



pupa, which is the Latin word for an infant, be- 
cause the butterfly is wrapped up in its covering as 
an infant is wrapped in its first clothing, which cov- 
ering it casts off in the proper time. 

" Here is a picture (Fig. 3) of the caterpillar, and 




Fig. 3.— Caterpillar of the Archippus Butterfly. 

below (Fig. 4) of the pupa, of the Archippus butter- 
fly, a very common tawny-orange butterfly. The cat- 
erpillar has black, yellow and white bands on its 
body, and a pair of threadlike black horns on the 
top of the second segment, and a shorter pair on the 
eleventh segment. The chrysalis 
is about an inch long, and is usu- 
ally suspended to the under side 
of a leaf. Its color is green, and 
it is ornamented with black and 
gold spots. 

"Some caterpillars of moths 
make for themselves houses by 
its chrysa- drawing leaves together by silken 
threads ; and inside of these leaf- 
houses they change into the pupa state. These 
houses are called cocoons. Some caterpillars that 




Fig. 4, 

LIS, OR PtJPA. 



THE THREE STAGES. 33 

are covered all over with hair take the hair off their 
body and make it up into a cocoon, where the chrys- 
alis is kept safe and snug till the butterfly comes 
out of it. Here is a drawing of the Isabella tiger- 
moth (Arctia Isabella) in its three stages. You 
have seen this hairy caterpillar oftentimes. Its 




Fig. 5.— Isabella Tiger-Moth (Arctia Isabella) in its Three 
Stages. 

hairs are like bristles, and on the ends of the cater- 
pillar they are black ; the middle hairs are tan-red. 
When it is caught up in the hand, it rolls itself up 
in a ball just like a hedgehog." 

" I know that caterpillar," said Henry. " I have 
taken up many a one, and they would roll right 
out of my hand. I have found them under boards 
in the winter — dead, I suppose, for they would 
not move, and it was cold enough to freeze them." 
3 



34 



RAMBLES A3I0SG INSECTS. 



" They remain in a half-torpid state during the 
winter," said Uncle Sam- 
uel, " and in April or May 
they make an egg-shaped 
cocoon, composed chiefly 
of their own hairs, where 
the insect rests till June 
or July, when it appears 
as a moth. The cocoon 
is represented in the 
drawing as cut open to 
show the appearance of 
the chrysalis. 

" Some moths spin fine 
silk, and build a cocoon 
for themselves out of this 
silk. These cocoons are 
large or small according 
to the size of the moth. 
This picture (Fig. 6) rep- 
resents the cocoon of one 
of the largest of moths. 
It belongs to the Cecropia 
moth, and is made for the 
safe-keeping of the pupa, 
which is carefully placed 
within it. When weaving 
this strange covering, the 
Fig. 6,-cocoon of ■ long green worm seems to 

Cecropia Moth. know that out of it, in a 




BEETLE AND GRUB. 



35 



few months, it will want to go forth, released from 
confinement; so it is careful to weave the upper end 
of the cocoon very loosely, so that it may be able to 
push the threads aside very easily when it is ready 
to escape. Inside of this curiously-woven house the 
caterpillar changes itself into a light-brown chrys- 
alis. When it is ready to enter into the world again, 




Fig. 7.— The Spotted Peeidxota (Pelidnota punctata, Linnjeus). 

a fluid flows from its mouth that dissolves the gum 
that holds the strands of the cocoon together, and 
it soon pushes itself out into the light. 

u The grubs of beetles are not as handsome as 
caterpillars. As they do their work chiefly in the 
dark, they are not ornamented with a variety of 
colors, and they are usually clumsy in shape. I- 
have a drawing of a beetle you have often seen 



36 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS, 

making its breakfast on the leaves of the grape- 
vine. (Fig. 7.) It is here represented as a grub (a), 
pupa (b), and perfect insect (e). The pupa is often 
found in rotten stumps and roots of the pear tree. 
In preparing for its pupa state, the grub forms a 
rude and not very substantial cocoon out of its 
own excrement, mixed with the rotten wood that 
surrounds it. This insect is supposed to live as a 
grub upward of three years, and in the pupa state 
about eight or ten days. 

" Larvae that live in the water, such as the young 
of the diving-beetles — called water-tigers from their 
ferocity — creep out of the water and make a house 
for themselves in the bank, in which they undergo 
the change that fits them for their higher life- 
The family name of these beetles is Dytiscidce. 
If Charlie will look into his Greek lexicon, he will 
find the w T ord dutikos, meaning fond of diving. 
From this Greek word this family of beetles de- 
rive their name. The larva of the dragon-fly 
undergoes but little change when it becomes a 
pupa, and is still active. When about to make its 
final change, the pupa quits the water ; and clinging 
to a branch of some water-plant, there it remains 
till it splits open in the back, and comes forth 
adorned with those narrow and beautiful wings 
which carry it so proudly and swiftly through the 
air. 

" The tobacco-worm, with which you are familiar, 
works its way into the ground, and there is changed 



THE TOBACCO-WORM. 37 

into a brown chrysalis, having; its long proboscis 
in a slender sheath that resembles the handle of 
a pitcher. There it remains all winter ; and when 
the sun warms the earth and brings out the flowers 
in the spring, it leaves its grave-clothes in the 
ground and goes forth, a large and beautiful moth, 
to drink the sweets of flowers and to plague the 
tiller of the soil." 

Now, Mary was a very attentive listener to these 
strange stories ; and though young, she was quite a 
philosopher in her way. Being sympathetic also, 
as all little girls are, she began to feel for the wel- 
fare and comfort of the poor worm that had shut 
itself up in its chrysalis and wrapped a shroud of 
silk about it, or buried itself in the ground to await, 
through cold and rain and snow, the coming of 
spring-time for its release. So, looking up into her 
uncle's face, as if almost doubting the truth of what 
he was telling them, she said, 

" But look-ee here, uncle : you must not forget 
that the caterpillar can't live without breathing; and 
how can it breathe if it is shut up in such a close 
prison, where it doesn't move for so long a time ? 
I'd like to know that," 

"Yes, and Fd like to know how it eats, and 
what it eats, when its mouth is closed up and it is 
buried in the ground or covered up in its cocoon." 

These words came from James, accompanied 
with a significant flourish of the head, as if he was 
confident that he and Mary had completely demol- 



38 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

ished all the stories their uncle had told about cat- 
erpillars. Henry was more thoughtful and in- 
clined to take the facts for granted, and to seek for 
a theory that would reasonably account for them. 
So, turning to James, he said, 

" Don't put on such airs, James, as if you knew 
everything. If the camel of the desert can live 
several days without drinking, and we can sleep dur- 
ing a long night without food, the caterpillar might 
sleep all the winter long without getting hungry. 
That may be its nature, you know. But I don't ex- 
actly see how the pupa can breathe." 

Charlie, recollecting that he had dug up in the gar- 
den a chrysalis of the potato- worm, thought that this 
would be a good time to examine it, and perhaps, 
with it, the problem suggested by Mary might be 
solved. So he proposed to bring it into the study, 
that they might search for breathing-holes. This 
was just what the little naturalists wanted, and they 
waited with some impatience the few moments dur- 
ing which Charlie, with hurried step, went to the 
summer-house, where he had laid away this inter- 
esting specimen of natural history, and returned. 

" Ah ! Here they are," said Charlie. " Spiracles 
like those in the caterpillar, though not colored as they 
are. It breathes through openings in the side of the 
abdomen, which moves when I touch it. I suppose 
Henry is right about its not eating. It is passing 
into a new state, and does not need to eat." 

Uncle Samuel listened with great interest to this 



77//; POTATO-WORM. 39 

discussion, because it proved that his young pupils 
wore disposed to think and inquire for themselves — 
characteristics very necessary to the successful study 
of any subject. It was now his time to speak, and 




Fig. 8.— Pupa of Potato-worm. 

a pause in the conversation indicated a conviction 
on the part of the young naturalists that they had 
exhausted their store of ideas. 

"I have not forgotten, Mary, that the young 
butterfly must breathe in order to live even when 
imprisoned in its pupa-case. Charlie has shown you 
that the good God has not forgotten this, either, and 
that he has made provision for its continued breath- 
ing. He never neglects the wants of any of his 
creatures, however small they may be; and when it 
is necessary for them to undergo great changes be- 
fore they reach their perfect state, he takes care that 
these changes do not take away their life. So he 
supplies the pupa with air as freely as he does the 
caterpillar, and in most cases by means of the same 
kind of arrangement. As to the pupa's living 
without eating, it is one of the strongest proofs 
of the wisdom and goodness of God that he sus- 
tains the pupa sometimes eight or nine months with- 



40 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

out food, during which it has no apparatus for eating 
and is shut up in its narrow prison-house. But we 
will find in our rambles some moths that never eat 
at all after they cease to be caterpillars." 

Just at this point the supper-bell closed this pleas- 
ant conversation, but not without the promise on 
the part of Uncle Samuel that after tea he would 
show them some more of his drawings illustrating 
the change from the caterpillar to the pupa state. 



CHAPTER III. 

CHANGE FROM THE CATERPILLAR TO THE PUPAL 

STATE — PIERIS BRASSIC^ SPINNING ITS CORD 

WAITING ITS CHANGE — ITS PUPA THE BUTTER- 
FLY'S ESCAPE FROM THE PUPA — HOW IT LOOKS 
WHEN IT FIRST SEES THE LIGHT CHARLIE'S RE- 
FLECTIONS — HENRY'S CARELESSNESS REPROVED 

THE STUDY OF INSECT-LIFE PROFITABLE. 

" TTOW bright and cheerful you all look !" said 

J— L Uncle Samuel to his young, earnest and will- 
ing pupils as they entered his study after tea. 

" Supper is over, you know," answered Mary, 
"and we have hurried in after you to hear you tell 
more stories about insects, and to see the pictures 
you promised to show us." 

" I am just looking for them in my portfolio. 
They will help you to understand how wisely, and 
with what foresight, caterpillars provide for their 
safety during that period of their life when they 
cannot move about as they once did. Here they 
are; I have found them. I made them when in 
England to represent the changes undergone by the 
common cabbage-butterfly, called Pieris brassicce" 

"The old naturalists called all the butterflies Pa- 

41 



42 



RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 



pilio, because papilio is the Latin word for butte>*fly, 
and all the moths Phalccna, from the Greek word 
phalos, a moth. I have an old work on natural his- 
tory by Stewart, in which this butterfly is called 
Papilio brassiece, the cabbage-butterfly, for brassicce 




Fig. 9.— Caterpillars of the Cabbage-Butterfly 
(Pieris brassicce). 

means cabbage, and the butterfly is so called because 
it lives on cabbage. 

"In 1801, Schrank, a distinguished naturalist, 
made a new classification of the butterflies, and this 
butterfly, with other species, was set apart to the 
genus Pieris. I have no doubt he derived this 
name from an ancient Roman story, which I will 
tell you. As the story goes, there once lived a 
king of Mesopotamia called Pierus, who was said 



THE CABBAQE-BUTTERFL Y. 43 

to be the father of the Muses. These Muses were 
called Pierides, after him, and were the patrons of 
the poets, goddesses of poetry and music. In the 
name of this genus, which embraces many very 
handsome butterflies, the memory of these fabled 
goddesses is preserved. 

" The Pieris brassicce is very destructive to cab- 
bage in its caterpillar state, and feeds also on the 
turnip. It is abundant in all parts of Europe, but 
has not yet appeared in the United States. A few 
years since the Pieris rapce, another cabbage-butter- 
fly of European origin, came into this country, and 
it is the butterfly that destroyed your cabbage last 
summer." 

"What is the caterpillar doing with a string 
about its head, and who put it there ?" asked Mary, 
whose attention was attracted more by the pictures 
than by the historical romance told by her uncle. 

" It has great need for that string, and it made 
it and put it there itself," answered Uncle Samuel. 
" When the time of the caterpillar's change comes, 
it selects a suitable place and makes a small hillock 
of silk, to which it hooks itself by the claws of its 
hinder feet. It now sets to work to secure a sup- 
port for its long body while it is passing into its 
new form. This it does by spinning a silken thread, 
which it fastens on both sides of its body over the 
fifth division. The drawings represent the cater- 
pillar in different stages of the act of making this 
thread. It acts like a creature of intelligence that 



44 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

fully understands what it most needs and is skilled 
in the art of making silk. It secures its thread in 
its proper place on one side, then carries its head 
over its body and secures the other end of the thread 
against the support on the other side. This opera- 
tion it repeats until the band is strong enough to 
bear the weight of the chrysalis. When this work 
is completed, it withdraws its head from under the 
band and takes the position shown in this drawing. 




Fig. 10.— Caterpillar of the Pieris brassicce. 

" To get into this position it has only to cause its 
head to slide along the threads near one of the places 
where they are fixed. In this position it patiently 
waits for that wonderful change which will convert 
it into a chrysalis. This requires about thirty hours, 
during which the caterpillar must be experiencing 
very strange sensations, if it has any feeling at all. 
And if it has any thoughts, it must be wondering 
what is the matter or what is about to become of it. 

" When the change is completed, it does not look 
at all like its old self. Look at this drawing, and 
you will see the picture it makes when a chrysalis. 
I have represented it in two positions, in each of 
which you will see the use it has made of the small 
tuft of silk and the string it fastened around its 



THE CABBAGE-BUTTERFLY, 45 

body. Strange that when it was a caterpillar it 
should know so well what it would need after it 
would cease to be a caterpillar!" 

" Poor thing !" said Mary ; " how 
can it ever get out of such a case if 
it wants to?" 

"And what does it do in there?" 
asked James. " Does it just sleep 
all winter?" 

" Your questions are both very 
proper, and I will try to answer 
them. If you could see inside of 
the chrysalis, James, and observe 
what is going on there while the 
insect seems to be at rest, you 
would think it had not much time 
to sleep. Why, its wings and legs 
and head and mouth have all to 
be made and put in their proper 
place before it can be a butterfly, 
and all this must be done during 
the few months that the insect is Fig - 1L ~ Fuj>JE OF 

Pieris brassicce. 

shut up in its little pupa-case. So 
you see it must be very busy all this time. And it 
is busy night and day — so busy that it has no time 
to eat. Then, just as soon as all the parts of the 
butterfly are formed and ready for use, it prepares 
to leave its shell ; for insects never lose any time, as 
boys so often do, putting off until to-morrow what 
ought to be done to-day. 




46 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

" Mary wants to know how it can get out of its 
close prison when it wants to. It understands how, 
and goes about the work as if it had done it often. 
It knows that the walls that confine it are not very 
strong, and as it is loosened from every part of its case 
it moves itself about at its pleasure. Then, stretch- 
ing itself a little, the dried and brittle case splits 
open on the upper part. By repeating its motion 
and spreading itself a little more, the rent increases 
until the split extends over the middle of the fore- 
head and back. Then the pieces just over the back 
open, separating themselves from the other parts to 
which they were fixed, and the insect, seeing its way 
to the light made clear, lifts its head and looks out. 
Little by little it advances, for it must be very care- 
ful not to rend or otherwise injure its very tender 
body and the beautiful, thin, light-colored wings, 
of which it may justly be proud." 

" It seems to me," said Mary, " that the dear little 
thing would be so glad it was going to be free 
again that it wouldn't stop to think about itself 
and to take so much pains to get out of its case, 
but would just fly away at once as soon as it got 
its head out. I would." 

"I suppose it would do so, too," said Uncle 
Samuel, "if it could; for insects never lose any 
time in doing their work. But it is not a very 
easy task to get free from such casing. All its 
parts — its wings, its legs, its horns, or antennse — 
are shut up in special cases, which must be broken 



ESCAPING FROM ITS CASK. 



47 



open or they must be otherwise withdrawn from 
them before the butterfly can be free. So you see 
why this operation requires so much care on the 
part of the little prisoner. 

" At last, by patience and perseverance, the but- 
terfly is free, and poises itself for a while proudly 
on its cast-off pupal case. What do you think its 
thoughts must be when it first sees the light, and 
takes its observations from the outside of its former 
prison-house, and inhales the perfume of the flowers 
which are so soon to give it food ? If you could 
only be a butterfly for a little while just when it 
leaves its coffin, so as to know its thoughts and its 
feelings, you could tell all about them. But this 
never can be, so that we can only wonder what 
the newly-winged butterfly thinks about itself 
when it first breathes the air of 
freedom. Here is a picture taken 
from a drawing made by Reaumur, 
a French naturalist, which repre- 
sents a moth just emerged from 
its pupal case. 

" The wings are folded up in- 
side of the case, so as to occupy 
but little room; and when the 
moth first appears the wings are %--M 

flat and thick, as in the cut. This ^^ 

appearance they have because they Fig - 12 -~ MoTH JUST 
are folded and refolded on them- 
selves. By and by the wings grow, and as they 




48 



BAUBLES AMONG INSECTS. 



grow they curl up, as is represented by the follow- 
ing cut, taken from another drawing of the same 
naturalist. 

" Gradually they spread out, assuming by de- 
grees their proper proportions, until 
they are ready for use. As the wings 
expand and harden the whole body 
becomes more firm, so that all the 
parts are fitted for action at the same 
time. In these two drawings (Figs. 
14, 15) you see represented the wings 
as they appear while they are ex- 
panding to full size." 

u How wonderful !" said Charlie. 
" It seems to me there is a great deal ^ose "^ 
to admire in the different stages in are folded up. 
the life of a butterfly or moth. I never heard of 





Fig. 14. — Moth whose 
Wings are Develop- 
ing. 




Fig. 15. — Moth whose 
Wings are fully De- 
veloped. 



THE GREAT DESIGNER. 49 

farts more astonishing. Do they not prove that 
there must be a great and wise God who made the 
insects, little as they are, and taught them how to 
preserve their life and how to do all the strange 
things they do so skillfully? How careful the cat- 
erpillar is to select a safe place in which to stay 
while it passes into its pupa state ! And when it is 
ready to come forth winged, how wisely and care- 
fully it acts, so as not to do itself any harm while 
it is so soft and tender, waiting on its rejected case 
patiently till all its parts harden and become strong 
and fit for use ! I think we children ought to 
learn a lesson from this fact — not to expose our- 
selves to bad influences while we are young and 
tender and our good habits are not strong enough 
to resist them. If we do, we shall act like the 
butterfly that will not patiently take its legs and 
wings out of their special cases, but pulls them out 
too rapidly, and so breaks and tears them. Is it 
not very kind in the great God to give to this little 
insect so much wisdom that, though it never came 
out of a pupal case before, it knows just how to do 
it and just when to do it? If he does so much for 
caterpillars, we ought to believe that he is ready to 
do much more for us/' 

u You take a very sober view of things, Charlie," 
said Henry, " but I think you are right. I be- 
lieve that if we all had more patience we should 
succeed much better. Yesterday I tried to separate 
two leaves of my arithmetic which would always 

4 



50 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

plague me by turning over together, but I did not 
go about it calmly and carefully like the butterfly. 
I got impatient and tried to pull them apart by 
force, and tore them both in two, and the teacher 
punished me for carelessness." 

" I am glad," said Uncle Samuel, " that you 
readily perceive the lessons which these wonderful 
facts teach us, and are disposed to govern your con- 
duct hereafter by them. If you think about the 
teachings of natural history, as well as learn the 
facts it reveals, you will find our study not only in- 
teresting, but profitable, and its influence will help 
to fit you for acting well your part in life. Always 
trust in God as your best and kindest friend. He 
takes care of all the creatures he has made, and has 
provided them with everything necessary for their 
growth and happiness ; and if you do not let sin 
separate you from him, he will make you infinitely 
more happy than any insect that sports itself joy- 
ously in the air and sips the nectar from the bloom- 
ing flower." 



CHAPTER IV. 

AN INTERESTING CAPTURE — THE ASTERIAS BUTTER- 
ELY — ITS CATERPILLAR — THE MOULTING PRO- 
3S — ITS CHANGE INTO A CHRYSALIS — THE PER- 
FECT INSECT — WHERE IT LAYS ITS EGGS — HOW 
TO DESTROY' THE CATERPILLAR — THE RIGHT TO 
TAKE THE LIFE OF CATERPILLARS CALLED IN 
QUESTION — ARRIVAL OF A CITY' COUSIN. 

SPEIXG had well advanced when one Saturday 
morning the children, with their butterfly-nets 
in hand, took a ramble over the fields in search of 
butterflies. They had some rare sport and capital 
exercise while chasing their game and attempting 
to catch it on the wing. It was amusing to see 
the disappointed look as one and another would 
examine his net with the conviction that he had 
certainly been successful, and find it empty. The 
zigzag course of the butterfiVs flight renders it 
very difficult to capture. This is its only means of 
self-defence when on the wing. The flight of 
birds is in a straight line, while the butterfly turns 
quickly in its flight, and changes its course so sud- 
denly and frequently that the bird that would 
make it its prey is outwitted and the butterfly es- 
capes. So, while their young pursuers were bring- 

51 



52 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

ing their nets down upon the butterflies in one 
direction, they quickly changed the course of their 
flight, and left them to search their nets in vain for 
their captives. 

Mary, seeing one resting on a wild flower, ap- 
proached it very cautiously, and brought the mouth 
of her net directly over it. This capture closed the 
ramble, for they w r ere all anxious to learn the his- 
tory of their fluttering prisoner. They were not 
long in reaching their uncle's studio, where he was 
always ready to talk with them on such subjects. 

" I caught it with my little net," said Mary. " It 
didn't know I was coming, and I just put my net 
over it, and it couldn't get out. Isn't it a beauty ? 
Oh, poor thing ! it wants to get out so badly it will 
break its wings. Would they bleed if they break, 
and hurt the dear little thing ? What's its name, 
uncle ? I'm so sorry for it. I wouldn't like to be 
caught in a net and taken away from my home. I 
wonder what it's thinking?" 

" What a wonderful mixture of ideas has filled 
your little brain this morning !" said Uncle Samuel. 
" Your sympathy for your beautiful prisoner has al- 
most overcome your anxiety to know its name and 
history. Your philosophy would make it tell all it 
is thinking about, and you ask questions too fast to 
wait for answers. 

" By comparing your butterfly with the specimens 
in my collection you will very easily find out its 
name for yourselves." 



PAPILIO ASTERIAS. 53 

This was very eagerly done, and they all decided 
that its name was Papilio asterias. Charlie at once 
took down his Latin dictionary, and found that pa- 
pilio w r as the Latin word for butterfly, and that aste- 
rias meant a gem having the appearance of a star } 




Fig. 16.— The Asterias Butterfly. {From Tenney's Natural 
History. ) 

and that it was derived from the Greek word aster, 
a star. Combining the two words, he said, 

" I understand why it is so called : it is the star- 
gemmed butterfly. See the yellow star-spots on its 
wings." 

" Your derivation is very ingenious," said Uncle 
Samuel, " and you are right about papilio, but it is 
called asterias because it was first found feeding on 
the plants belonging to the order Asteraceae. The 
plants were so called because their flowers are 
star-like. The spots on the wing of this butterfly 



54 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

are not star-like, as your eager imagination sug- 
gests, and so you will have to give up your inge- 
nious theory for facts." 

" But what do you know about it, uncle ?" said 
Mary, somewhat impatient with the long discussion 
about its name, which she could not clearly under- 
stand. "Had it to be a caterpillar before it could 
be a butterfly? If so, what did the lovely little 
crawling thing live on ? for I think such a beauty 
of a butterfly must come from a lovely caterpillar, 
if it ever was one." 

" Yes, it had to be a caterpillar, like all other 
butterflies, and it was then, as now, a thing of 
beauty. If you look on the leaves of the parsley 
or carrot some time next June, you may find it at 
home there. It is known best by the common name 
of the parsley-worm. It is very small when it 
escapes from the egg — all caterpillars are small 
then — and it is of a black color, with a broad band 
across the middle and another on the tail, and on 
the back are little projecting points. It grows very 
rapidly till it is about one and a half inches in 
length. One of the strangest facts in this caterpil- 
lar-history is that it changes its color at each stage 
of its growth. When it is full grown, its projecting 
points and white bands entirely disappear, and the 
skin beconies smooth and the color a delicate 
apple-green, with a transverse band of black and 
yellow spots alternately arranged on each 
ment/ 







MOULTING. 55 

"How do caterpillars change their color when 
they grow? And what do you mean by different 
stages iu their growth?' asked Henry. "I should 
think if they changed 
their color they would 
have to change their 

skill too. Fig. 17,— Caterpillar of Aste- 

" The «TOWtll of Cat- RrAS - (From Tenney's Natural 

to % History.) 

erpillars is a very inter- 
esting and wonderful part of their history, and this is 
a very good time to tell you of it. Their skin does 
not grow with the other parts of their body, like 
the skin of other animals. It is made to fit the 
caterpillar exactly; and when it eats so much that 
its skin is too small and feels uncomfortable, then it 
has no more use for that skin, and proceeds to cast 
it off. * This process is called moulting, and it is a 
very delicate and important operation. It requires, 
also, much time and labor, and is attended with not 
a little danger. It is, therefore, a critical period in 
caterpillar-life. The necessity of this change of 
skin seems to make the caterpillar very thoughtful, 
and for one or two days before the important mo- 
ment arrives it ceases to eat, as though there was 
something very weighty resting upon its mind. 
But this may be done to reduce the size of the 
body, and thus render its withdrawal from the 
skin more easy and safe, or to enable the minute 
organs, which up to this time carried nourishment 
to the skin, to withdraw entirely from the skin, so 



56 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

that, being dry and dead, it might be rejected by 
the caterpillar without danger to its life. 

" In the mean time, it seeks some secluded spot 
in which it can remain undisturbed during the op- 
eration. If it lives in society, as the tent-caterpil- 
lars do, it retires into its nest and fixes the hooks 
of its feet during the process firmly in the nest- web. 
As the time of the change approaches the color de- 
clines in brilliancy, the skin withers and hardens, 
and the juices by which it had been nourished are 
withdrawn. If you were to look at the insect now, 
you would see it raising its back into a bow or 
stretching its body to its utmost extent, as if it were 
uncomfortable. But I suppose it does not feel pain, 
and, indeed, the operation may be a very pleasant 
one. Sometimes you would see it raising its head, 
moving it from one side to the other for a while 
and then letting it fall back again. It acts as 
though it knew that there was a great change going 
on all over its body which it did not understand, 
and hence its apparent uneasiness; or perhaps it 
feels that its old skin is no longer of any use to it, 
and it has determined at every cost to cast it away. 

" Keeping your eyes on the anxious worm, you 
would see, as the change drew near, the second 
and third segments increasing in size. Thus the 
insect stretches the old parts as much and as rap- 
idly as it can. At length the vessels that gave 
nourishment to the old skin are all withdrawn from 
it, and a slit appears on the back, beginning at the 



MOULTING. 57 

second or third ring. Now, as the caterpillar feels 
itself freed from its old and worn-out garment, it 
presses its body, clad in a new and sometimes a dif- 
ferently-colored skin, through the rent, and grad- 
ually withdraws itself from its former covering, 
leaving the old case, a perfectly-shaped caterpillar 
sheath, with all its exterior parts — skull, jaws, 
antennae, legs, claws and spiracles." 

" I found just such a sheath/' said James, " in 
our garden last summer, and I thought it was a 
dead caterpillar, and I wondered how it had all 
dried up and yet its skin looked as plump as when 
it was living. Now I know it was only the cast- 
off clothes of a caterpillar. How many times does 
the caterpillar cast off its skin before it is full- 
grown ?" 

"Generally three or four times," answered Uncle 
Samuel. "Each time, after moulting, the caterpil- 
lar fasts a whole day to give time for the parts to 
harden, so that all its organs can do the work ex- 
pected of them, and then it commences anew to 
devour the leaves of the plant or tree on which 
it lives. 

" When the caterpillar of the butterfly which you 
have just caught has moulted for the last time, it 
comes out of its old skin having a pair of orange- 
colored horns situated in the first segment just be- 
hind the head, which it thrusts out violently when- 
ever it is touched or suspects danger. These V- 
shaped organs give forth a disagreeable smell, and 



58 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

hence seem to be defensive weapons with which it 
protects itself from the attacks of a kind of flies 
which deposit their eggs in the bodies of caterpil- 
lars and are their greatest enemies, because their 
eggs produce little worms which feed on the sub- 
stance of the caterpillar and kill it. God thus pro- 
vides a crawling worm w T ith the necessary means of 
self-defence, and gives it an instinct ever awake to 
a sense of danger and prompt in the use of organs 
for its own protection." 

" That is wonderful," answered Charlie ; " and 
since God has thought it worth while to provide 
thus for the safety and self-defence of a caterpil- 
lar, we ought to admire more than ever this part 
of his handiwork. For my part, I am becoming 
more and more astonished at my own blindness and 
stupidity in not noticing or studying out the uses 
of the various organs of insects. They are all so 
well adapted to their varied and respective uses 
that they satisfy me that God designed them for 
those very uses when he made the insects." 

"I am glad to hear you say so, Charlie," said 
Uncle Samuel; "and if you would carefully study 
the structure and observe the uses of the different 
parts of insects, you would be confirmed in your 
present conviction, and would not cease to admire 
and praise the w r isdom of the great Creator, who, 
notwithstanding the grandeur of his empire^ has 
not neglected or slighted in the least the most insig- 
nificant of his works, and who has so wonderfully 



THE CHRYSALIS. 59 

adapted each of his creatures to the position it oc- 
cupies in the natural world." 

" Tell us, uncle, what it turns into when it quits 
being a caterpillar/' said Mary, who was less con- 
cerned about the theology that more mature minds 
might discover in its structure than in the history 
of its growth into a butterfly. " Wouldn't I like 
to see it make a cocoon of silk or dig a grave for 
itself in the ground ! What does it do next, and 
how does it do it?" 

u You could never see it do either of the things 
you mention, for it never learned how, and never 
will. It has a way of doing itself up into a 
chrysalis that it likes much better than either 
of these ways. Every caterpillar to its taste, you 
know. 

" When its caterpillar-life is about to end, it seems 
to know that it is not going to die, but that a very 
great change is about to take place in its life and 
condition. So you might see it walking about as if 
in deep thought. It refuses to eat, and withdraws 
itself from its accustomed places of resort and seeks 
a sheltered spot — it may be the side of a building, 
or a fence, or, more likely, the trunk of a tree — 
where it can prepare itself for its expected change. 
This is a solemn moment in the experience of the 
parsley-worm. It has eaten its last breakfast; it 
will nevermore have any desire to feast on the rich 
pulp of the parsley or the carrot- leaf. It is about to 
close its eyes on familiar scones, that they may en- 



60 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

large and increase in beauty, and be fitted to look 
out upon the new glories of higher life. 

"Now its instinct acts as it never acted before. 
New and wonderful powers are displayed. It spins 
a little tuft of silk as skillfully as if it had been 
trained in the art, and, as though it fully compre- 
hended the necessities of its new condition, it glues 
it to the surface on which it rests and entangles its 
hinder feet in it, so as to fix them securely to the 
spot. When thus suspended, it makes a U-shaped 
loop of many silken threads, with its ends fastened 
to its resting-place. Under the loop it passes its 
head, gradually working it over its back, so as to 
support its body, and keep it from falling during 
the process of transformation. For twenty-four 
hours after this Nature is very 
busy changing the form of the 
caterpillar, and within this time 
it has actually succeeded in strip- 
ping itself of its apple-green 
skin and shutting itself up in 
its cosy little chrysalis. 

" Here is a cut of its new 
shape and dress. How unlike 

Fig. 18. — Chrysalis j£ s f ormer se lf J It is no longer 

of Papilio asterias. # . ° 

{From Tenners Nat- the active, voracious worm, but 

ural History.) ft s ] ee pj n g ? motionless piipa, 

awaiting a still greater change and a life of greater 
activity. Nor is it without beauty. God honors it 
still with graceful touches of his pencil. It is pale- 




THE CHRYSALIS. 61 

green, ochre-yellow or ash-gray in color, and has 
two short ear-like projections above the head, and 
a little nose-like prominence on the upper part of 
the back. 

" It remains in this state from nine to fifteen days, 
and then its skin breaks open and one more of 
Nature's marvels is seen. A butterfly marked and 
ornamented just like your beautiful captive issues 
from it, clings to the vacated shell till its crumpled 
and drooping wings have stretched themselves to 
their fullest extent and become dry and ready for 
use, and then, clad in its new robes of beauty, and 
gifted with new tastes and capacities for higher and 
purer enjoyment, it bids adieu to the faithful shell 
which had so lately protected it, and with graceful 
ease, as though it had always been winged, it flies 
away to find new companions, and to participate in 
new pleasures and sip the nectar from the richly 
stored flower-cup." 

" What a beautiful butterfly it is !" said Henry. 
" Let me see if I can describe it. Its chief color is 
black. It has a double row of eight yellow spots on 
the back of its abdomen, and two rows of similar 
spots on each side, and two yellow spots just behind 
the eyes. The wings have two bands of yellow 
spots between the two yellow bands, and near the 
hinder angle an eye-like spot of an orange-color 
with a black centre. The most of the spots on the 
under side are tawny orange. The wings expand 
about three and a half inches." 



62 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

" Your description is very good and shows ac- 
curacy in observation — a very important trait in a 
young naturalist. The cultivation of this power 
of the mind is one of the results of the study of 
entomology, and this fact should recommend it as 
one of the best means of thorough mental training. 
Note closely every mark in an insect, observe its 
size and position, the form and outline of each 
wing, the number of the legs, the length and form 
of the antennae, the proboscis, if it has any ; these 
things fix the class and the species of the insect, and 
will enable you always to recognize individuals in 
the insect communities as you recognize old ac- 
quaintances. 

" During the month of July you can see these 
butterflies in great abundance; but sometimes, as it 
was with the specimen just captured, they appear 
earlier in the season. In July and August they lay 
their eggs on various plants, placing them singly on 
different parts of the leaves and stems. This is 
done, perhaps, for the greater security of the young, 
and, it may be, that the interests of the young may 
not be brought into conflict when they are foraging 
for their food. The young caterpillars feed on 
flowers and seeds, as w r ell as on leaves, so that they 
are often very destructive of many cultivated plants 
and a great enemy of the gardener. Harris recom- 
mends the gathering of them by hand and crushing 
them as the most effectual method of banishing 
them from the garden." 



THE CHRYSALIS. 63 

"I think that would bean effective mode — at least, 
for the crushed worms/' said James. " But isn't it 
wrong to kill a worm that is so beautiful, and that 
grows up into such a beautiful butterfly ?" 

"Its beauty won't save it/' quickly answered 
Charlie, "if it is mischievous and bad. There is 
no goodness in mere beauty. Sometimes the most 
beautiful persons are the most vicious. Wicked 
men often lose their lives because of their wicked- 
ness, and why shouldn't worms ? If a worm des- 
troys what man has planted for his own use, I 
think he is justified in defending his own property 
by killing the worm. Then, if man is i lord of 
creation/ he has a right to assert his authority over 
caterpillars, and to take their life if they destroy 
the vegetables on which he lives." 

Our young naturalists, in their attempt to moral- 
ize, would doubtless have become terribly involved 
in some knotty questions of religious duty toward 
the lower animals, had not their conversation been 
suddenly cut off by the arrival of their little city 
cousin, who had come to spend the season with 
them. The beautiful butterfly and its right to life 
and the pursuit of happiness in its own way, as 
well as the higher right of man to protect his food, 
were promptly dismissed from their thoughts that 
a hearty and joyous welcome might be given to 
their long-expected friend. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE BUTTERFLY ITS WINGS — MARY RUBS OFF ONE 

OF THE SPOTS — NATURE^ COLORING-MATTER 

REVELATIONS OF THE MICROSCOPE EXCITE WON- 
DER — SCALES OF PAPILIO ASTERIAS — WONDERFUL 

MOSAIC — SKILL OF THE DIVINE ARCHITECT HOW 

THE SCALES ARE PUT ON THE WING — WHY SCALES 
DIFFER IN SIZE AND OUTLINE— EPICURUS NOT 
WISE ARGUMENT FOR THE DEITY. 

" TT A VENT we had a good time, though !" said 
-LJ- Mary as a kind of apology for their ab- 
sence from their uncle's study. The whole house- 
hold had been made very happy by the arrival of 
little Bertha, who was not much older than Mary, 
and who had never before been in the country. To 
her everything was new — the garden, the fields, the 
woods. She had often seen Uncle Samuel's collec- 
tion of butterflies and other insects, and had learned 
from him the names of some of their organs ; but 
she had never seen so many beautiful insects flying 
in freedom over broad meadows and by the side of 
running brooks. 

When, therefore, she had gratified her curiosity 
about the things that were new to her in the house 

64 



THE BUTTERFLY. 65 

and the yard, she was very willing to roam with her 
cousins over the fields and in the woods to gather 
moss and wild-flowers, and to give chase to the 
sportive butterfly. 

This evening our little group of naturalists, recol- 
lecting that their last talk with their uncle was very 
abruptly broken off, and supposing that he had some 
more interesting stories to tell them about butterflies, 
found their way into his study. They had not for- 
gotten what he had told them ; and while resting on 
the grass by the side of the stream which flowed so 
gently through the meadow, they had told it all over 
to Bertha, exciting in her a great desire to hear more 
about insect-life, and preparing her for listening in- 
telligently to everything her uncle might have to 
tell them. 

" Do tell us some good stories about butterflies," 
said Bertha, whose zeal for such stories had been 
wonderfully wrought up by the enthusiasm of her 
cousins. 

" With great pleasure, madam," answered her 
uncle. u I am always glad to show the little ladies 
who live in the city w T hat wonderful things are to 
be found in the country, so that they will love 
the country more, and love and worship the great 
God who made the country so rich and beautiful, 
and who fills the air and land and water with 
such wonderful things of life as are to be found 
in the insect world. For your better entertain- 
ment I will call in the aid of my microscope, and 

5 



66 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

show you wonders which otherwise no one could 
ever see." 

Taking the butterfly in his hand and calling his 
attentive listeners near him, he directed their atten- 
tion to the coloring of its wings. 

" Notice," said he, " the wings of this butterfly. 
See how accurate its markings are, how delicate the 
shading, one color seeming to glide into another. 
Could any painter excel or equal the touches of 
Nature's pencil?" 

"Are the wings really painted, uncle?" asked 
Mary. " Oh, there ! I have rubbed out one of 
its spots. It was a yellow one, and now the wing 
looks as clear almost as glass just where I pressed 
my finger upon it. I do not think that Nature's 
paint sticks as well as man's. If it did, it wouldn't 
rub off as easily as it does." 

" Look at your finger, Mary," said James ; " it has 
dust on it. I think that dust came off the butter- 
fly's wing. It looks yellow, too. It is the paint 
taken from the wing ; that's what it is." 

By this time their interest had greatly increased, 
and our young friends were very anxious to know 
what kind of coloring-matter Nature made use of 
in painting the butterfly's wing. In the mean time, 
Uncle Samuel had adjusted his microscope, and was 
ready to satisfy their curiosity by showing them 
some things more wonderful than any with which 
they had yet met. 

" I am not astonished," said he, " at your anxiety 



THE BUTTERFLY. G7 

to know where Nature gets her paint and how she 
puts it on the wing of the butterfly. I ought rather 
to say the God of Nature, for I want you always 
to remember that there is no such thing as Nature 
independent of the all-wise Author of Nature — 
God himself. When, therefore, I speak of Nature 
doing anything, I mean God working in and by 
means of the laws of Nature. Now, if Mary will 
only press her finger that is marked with the dust 
she unintentionally took from the wing of the but- 
terfly upon this small piece of clear glass, I will 
soon show you what that dust looks like and how 
it is made to give color to the wing." 

Mary did so ; and when the slip of glass was 
held up to the light, nothing was seen but specks 
of fine dust. Great was the interest manifested by 
our young friends in their prospective discovery of 
what these specks were. As soon as the glass slide 
was put in its place, so that the scales could be 
seen with the microscope, one after another, com- 
mencing with the youngest, was permitted to look 
at them. It would have done you good to have 
seen the expression of wonder and delight which 
lighted up the countenance of each as they respect- 
ively gazed upon the dust enlarged into variously 
outlined scales. Bertha's astonishment was so 
great that she suspected it to be one of her 
uncle's tricks. 

"I don't believe a word of it," said she; "you 
are only making believe. I know that is dust. You 



68 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

just put something else in there, and want to make 
us believe it came from the butterfly's wing. If 
there were anything on its wing like that, why we 
could see it. Then they're so large, and look just 
as if they were cut out with the scissors by a pat- 
tern. I just know you're playing some trick on 
us." 

" Well, to convince you that the microscope is 
telling you the truth, and that I am not playing 
any trick on you, look closely at this glass slip," 
said Uncle Samuel as he held the slide in his hand, 
having removed it from the microscope. " What do 
you see ?" 

"Why, nothing but dust from Mary's finger," 
answered Bertha. 

" Now look into the microscope and tell me what 
you see." 

" I do not see anything at all but the lower part 
of the microscope, and that very dimly," said she. 

" Now carefully observe that I am putting under 
the object-glass that very slide that you say is 
covered with dust. Put your eye now to the eye- 
glass." 

" Oh, now I believe it all ; and how beautiful, 
how wonderful ! Who would have thought it ! 
Some of the scales are yellow, and some are dark- 
colored. They are notched at one end, some have 
three teeth like a saw, some two, and some four or 
more. There is one long and narrow; some are 
shaped like a heart at the end that is not notched, 



THE BUTTERFLY. 69 

and out of the groove in the heart is a stem like an 
apple-stem, and some have the stem without the 
heart" 




Fig. 19.— Magnified Scales of the Papillo asterias, as Seen by 
Bertha and her Cousins. 

" I think it is wonderful," said Henry as he took 
his place at the microscope. " Does the color come 
from these scales ? It looks as if it did, for that 
part of the wing from which they were taken is al- 
most as clear as glass. I wonder how they are fixed 
on the wing ? It must require great skill to fasten 
such dust-like particles on so thin and delicate a 
thing as a butterfly's wing." 

" These scales hold all the coloring-matter of the 
wing/' said Uncle Samuel, " and there is wonderful 
diversity of shape among them. You see that no 
two of them are alike, just as it is with the leaves 
of an oak tree, while the combined effect of the 
natural mosaic on the butterfly's wing is as striking 
and beautiful as the outline of the oak is majestic 
and grand." 

" Why are the scales not alike, and why do they 



70 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

not all have the same number of notches ?" asked 
James. 

"Because each scale is designed to fit a particular 
place, and it must have the particular outline and 
the special tint which adapt it to the portion of the 
wing it occupies. Any change in the form of the 
scales, by the lengthening or shortening or removal 
of a single tooth, would mar the beauty of the 
marking and the perfection of the shading of the 
spots. In a single scale there is nothing which dis- 
plays any great skill, and there would be no great 
difficulty in drawing a more accurate mathematical 
figure and one that we should think more beauti- 
ful ; but when we look upon the rich coloring of 
the wing, and the regularity of the spots by which 
each species is distinguished, and the perfect blend- 
ing and shading of the various hues, we cannot help 
admiring the exquisite taste and admirable skill 
displayed in the construction of this wonderful 
mosaic." 

" Mosaic ! What do you mean by that word, 
uncle ?" asked Mary. " Is it anything about Mo- 
ses?" 

" Mosaic is the name of a kind of inlaid work, 
like patchwork, made of very small pieces of hard 
substances, such as glass, marble, stones and gems, 
carefully laid together and cemented, so that the 
whole work will represent some beautiful picture. 
These small pieces are of various colors, are gener- 
ally cubical in form, and when put together look 



THE BUTTERFLY. 71 

like stitches of different colors in worsted work. 
It does not receive its name from Moses, but from 
a Greek word which means polished ', because the 
pieces are all polished after being fitted to their 
places perfectly. Now you can see, by means 
of the microscope, what kind of pieces are inlaid 
in the butterfly's wing to make up the beautiful 
picture which is so much admired. These pieces 
are very small and very carefully fixed in their 
places. They are so small and so closely put to- 
gether that the number of them on a single wing 
is inconceivably great. In a mosaic, human skill 
has put as many as eight hundred and seventy sep- 
arate pieces in a square inch. This is regarded as 
a great triumph of art ; and so it is. What, then, 
shall we say of the art that puts, in the same extent 
of surface, the astonishing number of two hundred 
thousand separate pieces, all in their proper places, 
without a single mistake to mar the beauty or des- 
troy the symmetry of the picture ? If we admire 
the ancient mosaic and wonder at the skill and 
patience of the man that constructed it, we ought 
to adore the wisdom and skill of the great Jeho- 
vah, who works with matchless art even on a but- 
terfly's wing. 

" The most perfect workmanship of the most 
celebrated artist is but clumsy bungling when com- 
pared with the skill of the Divine Architect. How 
amazing are His works, and how much of their beau- 
ty and grandeur is brought to our knowledge by 



72 



RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 



means of the microscope ! The world is full of 
pictures of beauty — in the gorgeous tints of the 
delicate flower, in the brilliant plumage of birds, 
and in the exquisite mosaic which displays its glory 
on the wing of the butterfly and moth." 

" Uncle," said Mary, " Bertha says she thinks the 
scales must be put on the wings with very poor 
paste, they rub off so easily. Just look here ! Henry 
has rubbed nearly all the scales off one of the wings. 
Do tell us how they are fastened to their places." 

" That I will do with great pleasure. But you 
must believe what the microscope tells you, for I 
cannot make my answer plain to you without its 
aid. I have taken the piece of the wing nearly 
stripped of its scales by Henry and placed it under 
the microscope, so that you can all see for your- 
selves how the union of scale and wino; is effected. 
"While you are examining the wins: I will ex- 

plain what you see. The 
part of the wing that is 
scaleless is clear and 
marked with ridges 
which appear like small 
dots or holes. Into these 
ridges the stems of the 
scales are inserted, and 
thus are fastened to the 
wing. The ridges are in 
rows, and so close that the scales overlap like the 
shingles on the roof of a house, so that you might 




Fig. 20.— Scales on Butiek- 
fl,y'6 Wing. 



THE BUTTERFLY. 73 

say that the wing is roofed with scales. The wing 
is very thin, and yet on each side of it you w T ill 
find these ridges, each one holding its own scale in 
its proper place. No scale ever misses the ridge to 
which it belongs and exchanges places with some 
other one. If such a thing should occur, the pic- 
ture would be spoiled, and the butterfly would be 
so far deformed." 

" I can see now 7 ," said Charley, " why the scales 
differ so much* in size and outline. Like the differ- 
ent pieces of a mosaic picture, each scale is made for 
the place it has to fill, and is cut and painted just 
as it is required to be. The stem must be made to 
fit the socket that holds it to its place. If it were too 
long or too short, it would not answer the purpose. 
The other day I saw men at work on a bridge which 
required a great many pieces of iron, which were in- 
tended to be made to fit exactly the places in which 
they were designed to be put. It happened, how- 
ever, by mistake that several of them were just a 
little too long, so the workmen had to cut a small 
piece off each one with chisels and files before it 
could be used. I think that would be the way 
w T ith the stems of the wing-scales if any of them 
were too long. They would be of no use till they 
were made to fit. And the notches would have to 
be cut just to suit the picture; and so they are. I 
understand it all now, and it is very wonderful. I 
have often looked at butterflies with admiration, but 
I never before knew that there was so much me- 



74 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

chanical skill displayed in the formation of their 
wings. 

" I read in ancient history," continued Charlie, 
" about a man called Epicurus, who lived about 
three hundred and forty-two years before Christ, 
and who taught that everything in the world came 
by chance. I don't think that, with all his know- 
ledge, he ever knew how the scales were fastened on 
a butterfly's wing, or he would have been compelled 
to admit that blind chance could never do such 
work. It seems to me that the whole structure, 
painting and use of the wing must have been in 
the mind of God before ever a butterfly was made, 
and that it was made according to this prearranged 
plan." 

u Some of our wisest men have seen this subject 
in the same light," said Uncle Samuel. " It is well 
to look 6 through nature up to nature's God.' We 
should judge of the wonderful mechanism seen in 
the structure and uses of the different parts of 
animals as we do of the products of human genius 
and skill. If we were to see a steam-engine for the 
first time, and observe how well it is adapted to the 
work it is required to do, we should reason that the 
inventor meant it to do that very work, and we would 
not call in question the fact that it was built accord- 
ing to a preconceived plan. So the very existence of 
the engine would convince us that somebody existed 
before the engine did, to whom it was indebted for its 
structure and the power of acting with such apparent 



THE BUTTERFLY. 75 

wisdom. Ought we not, also, to take for granted, 
from the exquisite mechanism of a butterfly's wing, 
the pre-existence of a Being capable of conceiving 
the plan of its structure, and of putting the parts 
together for the very purpose for which the wing is 
to be used ? There is such a being, and that being 
is God, the self-existent Author of all things." 

Bertha, to whom this long argument seemed for- 
eign to the subject, because it was not comprehended 
clearly by her, arrested further discussion concerning 
the origin of things by the question, 

"Are the scales of all butterflies just like those 
we have seen ?" 

" In general form they are ; as the leaves of dif- 
ferent kinds of trees are so similar that you can tell 
a leaf when you see it, though it may differ from all 
the leaves you have ever seen. And now, since you 
have called my attention to the subject, I want to 
show you how God has displayed his taste in vary- 
ing the outline and special forms of these very 
minute parts of butterflies and moths. In all the 
forest you cannot find any two leaves precisely alike, 
and yet there is such a family likeness in the leaves 
of any one species of tree, as the oak, that you can 
tell an oak leaf from the leaf of the pine, walnut, 
hickory, beech, or any other kind of tree in the 
woods. So I am inclined to believe that a careful 
study of the structure of the scales of the different 
species of butterflies would enable any one to tell 
the difference between them, and when he saw the 



76 



RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 



scale to name the kind of butterfly to which it be- 
longed. It is because these scales are so small that 
they are not so generally and accurately known as 
the leaves of trees, or the wool of different varieties 
of sheep, or the hair of different kinds of animals." 




DRYOCAMPA IMPERIAL! 8. 
Fig. 21.— Magnified Scales fkom the Wings of Moths. 



THE BUTTERFLY. 



77 



SCALES F BOM WINGS OF MOTHS 



#S| %. 




/ SMERINTHUS GFMINA TUS. 

SCALES FJ^OM WWGS OF B1TTTEBFL1ES. 




G RAPT A FAUN US. 
Fig. 22.— Magnified Scales from the Wings of Butterflies. 

" While studying this subject I made drawings 
from the microscopical views of the scales of a 
number of butterflies and moths, which, if you 



78 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

examine closely, you will discover differ from each 
other just as the leaf of one species of the oak dif- 
fers from that of another species. 

" Look carefully at these drawings, and see if 
you can discover any characteristic differences be- 
tween the scales of butterflies and those of the 
moths." 

Charlie, who had a keen eye and was generally 
accurate in making observations, replied, 

" I notice one prominent distinction. Many of 
the scales of the butterflies end with a stem pro- 
jecting from a heart-shaped depression, while none 
of the moth scales end so." 

"You will notice, also," said Uncle Samuel, 
" that the notches of the moth scales are generally 
sharper and more numerous, and some of them 
much longer, than those of the butterflies. I 
should have told you that these scales were taken 
from the same part of the corresponding wing of 
each specimen examined, so that the comparison 
might be as fair as possible. Their examination 
gives ground to believe that specific differences in 
butterflies and moths affect the size and outline of 
the scales which cover their wings, as certainly as 
the same differences in trees and animals with which 
we are familiar affect the leaves of the one and the 
hairy covering of the other. Observation and anal- 
ogy sustain this conclusion, and confirm our faith in 
the permanency of species, and prove the idea that 
a whole species of butterflies can change their color 



THE BUTTERFLY. 79 

in imitation of the color of another species to be 
absurd and contrary to fact. But it is time to 
close this long talk. Come to my study to-mor- 
row evening, and I will tell you more about the 
structure of the butterfly." 



CHAPTER VI. 

A HAPPY COMPANY — MEANING OF THE WORD LEPI- 
DOPTERA — EYES OF BUTTERFLIES — CHARLIE'S 
MORAL REFLECTIONS — WHY THE BUTTERFLY HAS 
SO MANY EYES — WHY THEY ARE NOT INJURED 
BY SUNLIGHT AND DUST — EYES OF OTHER IN- 
SECTS — THE STEMMATA — ADAPTATION OF THE 
BUTTERFLY'S EYES TO THEIR USES — MORAL LES- 
SONS. 

" TTOW glad I am/' said Uncle Samuel, "to see 
J~L your smiling faces this evening ! They tell 
me that all has been well with you at school and at 
home. A cheerful heart and a good conscience 
greatly help the student to acquire knowledge, and 
I have no doubt I shall have attentive listeners to 
what I am about to tell you." 

" Indeed you will," said Mary. " We have been 
ever so good to-day. Bertha likes our school so 
much ; there is such a large yard to play in, and we 
have seen so many pretty butterflies. We told our 
teacher some of the stories you told us, and he liked 
them ever so much." 

" Yes," said Bertha, " and he said that he could 
hardly believe all we told him about the wing of a 
butterfly being covered over with painted scales, 

80 



B l TTTEBFLIES * 1 NJD MOTHS. 81 

almost like a fish. But we told him we knew it 

was true, for we saw them through your microscope. 
It seems to me that a teacher should know every- 
thing, so that lie could tell the scholars nice stories 
about what God has made in the world. But go 
on, uncle, and tell us more about the butterfly." 

" Before I proceed, I think you ought to learn 
and understand the name of the order of insects to 
which butterflies belong. The names of the orders 
of insects are chiefly taken from the peculiar struc- 
ture of their wings. Now, if you were going to 
give a name to the order to which butterflies belong, 
what would you call them ?" 

" I would call them ' scale-winged ' insects," an- 
swered Charlie. 

" So they are called by naturalists. But as scien- 
tific names are taken either from the Latin or the 
Greek, they have gone to the Greek and taken the 
word that means scale* and another meaning wing\ ; 
these they put together and make the word Lepidop- 
tera, and this is the name of the order to which 
butterflies and moths belong. This order is di- 
vided into two sections or classes — butterflies 
and moths. The first of these embraces the day- 
flying Lepidoptera, and the second those that fly 
chiefly in the evening and night. These classes 
are similar in some respects, but differ very much 
in the time of their activity and their rest. We shall 
find some moths before we are through with our 

* Lepis. f Pteron. 



82 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

rambles, and then you will learn some very inter- 
esting facts in their history. 

" Our special study this evening will be the eyes 
of butterflies ; and to enable you to understand how 
much God has done for them in this respect, I have 
placed before the object-glass of the microscope a 




Fig. 23. 

slide containing the eye of a fly, and I use a lens 
magnifying one hundred and fifty diameters, which 
makes it appear very large. I use this slide De- 
cause it is convenient, and the eye of a butterfly 
closely resembles that of a fly. Come and see how 
wonderfully it is constructed." 



BUTTERFLIES 1 EYES. 83 

" How beautiful !" said Bertha. " It is just like 
the most beautiful lace ; each division has one, two, 
three, four, five, six sides." 

"I think it looks just like a piece of honey- 
comb," said Henry, " for the cell of a honeycomb 
has six sides. If every one of these little cells is 
an eye, I should think the butterfly would see a 
great many views of the same object." 

" You have two eyes," said Uncle Samuel, " and 
yet you see but one view of the same object; why 
may not a butterfly have more eyes than you, and 
see objects single just as you do ? The rays of light 
that pass from an object through the lenses of your 
two eyes come together and make but one image on 
the nerve of vision ; so each one of the many lenses 
of the eyes of the butterfly receives rays of light 
from the same object, which meet and form but one 
image on the nerve of vision. The butterfly sees 
objects in nature, not multiplied, but just as you 
see them, and as they really are." 

" Does each one of these six-sided divisions rep- 
resent a single eye?" asked James. "If so, how 
many eyes has a butterfly?" 

" Each eye is compound, and is made up of eye- 
lets (small eyes), each containing two lenses through 
which the light passes, and is as perfect an instru- 
ment of vision as your eye is. The six-sided divis- 
ion is called a facet or small face, and represents 
one of these eyelets. A butterfly has as many dis- 
tinct small eyes or lenses as it has facets. Now, 



84 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

these have been counted, and found to number sev- 
enteen thousand three hundred and twenty-five for 
each eye, making the whole number of eyelets 
thirty-four thousand six hundred and fifty, united 
in two large compound eyes." 

" Now, uncle !" exclaimed Mary. 

" You are just making that up to surprise us," 
said Bertha. " How can such a little thing have so 
many eyes ?" 

"I do not wonder at your astonishment," an- 
swered Uncle Samuel, "and that you are almost 
ready to doubt what I say. But you know that 
all that God does is astonishing to us, while every- 
thing is simple and plain to him. He can as easily 
give to one of his little creatures thirty-four thou- 
sand six hundred and fifty eyes as give you two 
eyes. You notice that each eye looks very large, 
and stands out like a little globe on each side of its 
head. The round surface is hard, so that it can re- 
sist injury, and is made up of the divisions you see 
through the microscope. Each of these divisions 
admits the rays of light and conducts them to the 
nerve of sight, called the optic nerve, so that there is 
no confusion in the insect's vision. It sees objects 
as distinctly as we do, and it may be that small 
objects are seen even more distinctly. 

" Here is a picture that will enable you to under- 
stand more clearly the interior structure of the eye. 
A represents a section of a butterfly's eye, B a 
portion more highly magnified, showing the facets 



BUTTERFLIES' EYES. 



85 




Fig. 24.— Section of Eye of a 
Butterfly. 



and their transparent pyramids surrounded with a 
dark coating. These pyramids meet at A, where 
they are joined to the 
optic nerve." 

" How very won- 
derful !" said Charlie. 
" It would seem as if 
God had displayed 
more mechanical 
skill and wisdom in 
the structure of the 
eye of a butterfly than in that of man. The manner 
of his painting the wing and the taste shown in its 
markings are wonderful, but the eye surpasses the 
wing. It seems so strange that it should have thirty- 
four thousand six hundred and fifty eyes. I do not 
see why a little insect like a butterfly could not have 
done just as well with two eyes as I can. It makes 
me think of the words you read in the Bible this 
morning : l O Lord, how manifold are thy works ! 
in wisdom hast thou made them all ; the earth is 
full of thy riches/ But it seems to me he has lav- 
ished his goodness unnecessarily upon the butterfly 
in giving it such a wonderful eye." 

" Our eye is under our control/' answered Uncle 
Samuel, " so that we can move it in any direction 
we please, and both eyes move in the same direction 
at the same time. We can look up or down or on 
either side. Besides, we have power to move our 
head so that we can look behind us and directly 



86 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

above us with ease. The butterfly cannot turn its 
eye in any direction, nor can it move its head in all 
directions as Ave do, without moving its body; so 
these defects are wisely removed by the peculiar 
structure of its eye. The position of the eye in 
the head, and its numerous facets, or little faces, 
each serving as a separate eye, enable it to see 
objects on all sides at "once. The chameleon has 
power to turn its eyes in opposite directions at the 
same time, and thus to look at objects on both sides 
at once. Why may not the butterfly with its won- 
derful eyes not only see objects on both sides, but 
also before it, at the same time? 

" You know how sharp-sighted the butterfly is. 
When you steal up behind it as noiselessly as a cat, 
and try to catch it with your fingers, it sees your 
hand before you can reach it, and makes its escape. 
This power of keen and all-sided vision is given to 
this innocent and harmless little creature as a 
means of self-preservation. It has no horns to 
fight with, no sting to wound its enemy, and no 
mouth to bite with. All it can do for its own pro- 
tection is to use its wings promptly and in time to 
get out of the way of danger. Do you not see, 
therefore, not only the wisdom, but the great kind- 
ness, of God in providing for it such marvelous 
eyes, and thus enabling it to see its enemy ap- 
proaching, and to make its escape in good time? 
Is there any unnecessary lavishing of His power 
and goodness on this insect?" 



B I ' TTEB FL IES ' E YES. 87 

Charlie listened with intense interest to his 
uncle's long defence of the wisdom of God as dis- 
played in the structure of the butterfly's eye, and 
acknowledged its force, admitting that God knew 
best what were the wants of his creatures and how 
to supply them. 

James was specially pleased with the idea of see- 
ing on all sides at once, and said, 

" Isn't it nice, though? It seems to me that the 
butterfly is better off than we are, even if it cannot 
move its head about. Sometimes men get run over 
by wild horses because they cannot see what is com- 
ing up behind them. I believe I'd rather have an 
eye like a butterfly's." 

"I wouldn't," said. Henry, u because it has no 
eyelashes to keep out the dust, and to shut out the 
light when it is too strong, and I think it would 
get all covered with dust sometimes, and the sun 
would often be so bright as almost to make it blind. 
Don't you think so, uncle?" 

" If its eye were soft and tender, as our eye is, it 
would need some covering to protect it from the 
dust and rain and bright sunlight; but it is not. 
It is very hard — almost as hard as glass ; and if 
any dust falls on it, it does not remain, nor does 
it injure the eye; and it is so constructed that the 
sunlight cannot be too bright for it. You know 
that the eagle can look right in the face of the sun 
and receive no injury, and why should not the but- 
terflv's eve, like the eagle's, be so suited to the lkdit 



88 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

that the brightest glare of the sun's rays could not 
make it blind or produce pain ?" 

" You said that this slide contained a part of the 
eye of a fly/' said Bertha. " Has a fly as many 
eyes as a butterfly ?" 

" The house-fly has only four thousand eyes on 
each side of its head, but it is just as happy with 
only eight thousand eyes as the butterfly is with 
thirty-four thousand six hundred and fifty. Every 
insect is provided with just as many eyes as it needs 
and can use well. The dragon-fly has twenty-five 
thousand and eighty-eight. Some beetles have fifty 
thousand. The silk-worm has twelve thousand four 
hundred and seventy-two, and the ant, little as it is, 
has one hundred eyes. The eyes of different spe- 
cies are adapted to their manner of seeking their 
livelihood. Those whose food is near them always 
have small and flattened eyes, while those that seek 
their food at a distance have large eyes that are 
very round ; and for a similar reason it is supposed 
that the eyes of the males are larger than the eyes 
of the females, because they have to search for their 
companions. 

" Besides these wonderful eyes, which are called 
compound eyes, the butterfly has three simple eyes, 
called stemmata (or ocelli), placed above the head a 
short distance behind the antennae. With these eyes 
they can only see objects that are but a short dis- 
tance from them." 

" I don't see what need the butterfly has for any 



BUTTERFLIES 1 EYES, 89 

more eyes, when it has so many on each side of its 
head," said James. 

" It is observed," said Uncle Samuel, " that most 
insects that have these simple eyes feed on the 
sweets of flowers, and some suppose that they en- 
able them to distinguish the different parts of the 
flower on which they rest. Their large and beau- 
tit ul compound eyes may be given them for the 
special purpose of seeing the approach of their 
enemies and enabling them to find the flowers on 
which they feed ; while the simple eyes, having the 
power of closer vision, are needed to enable them to 
discover the food which the flowers contain." 

" I think I see it all/' said Charlie. " The but- 
terfly needs not only eyes that see at a distance, but 
it must also see close objects. So a few single eyes 
are given it for use when it takes its meals. Just 
as it is with you, uncle. When you w T ish to read, 
you put on a pair of glasses with which you can 
see near objects clearly ; but when you look at ob- 
jects at a distance, you put on another pair. What 
the wisdom of man has done for you in inventing 
glasses of different powers of vision, God has done 
for the butterfly. God did not do this for man, be- 
cause He gave him an inventive genius by which he 
could make provision for himself whenever he 
needed it. He makes up for the lack of genius 
on the part of the butterfly by providing for its 
wants Himself." 

" What are these long horns for, uncle?" asked 



90 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

Mary, who was more interested in examining the 
different parts of the insect than in the moral re- 
flections of her elder brother. 

" I will tell you something about the horns of 
the butterfly after my return from the city. It is 
late now, and your lessons require a little more 
study before retiring for the night. You see how 
useful its eyes are to this beautiful creature, and 
how faithfully it uses them. Always open, it sees 
its enemies when at a distance, and makes good 
its escape. Like the butterfly, keep your eyes al- 
ways open. You are surrounded by enemies ; be 
watchful, and escape in time the danger threatening 
you. This is your best means of self-protection. 
If you close your eyes, so that you cannot see the 
approach of temptation, it will find you off your 
guard and lead you away before you are aware of 
your danger. As it looks after its food, so use your 
eyes in looking after knowledge. Go where it is to 
be found as the butterfly goes to the flower. Drink 
it in, just as the butterfly drinks in the sweet juices 
it finds in the flower-cup. If you use your two 
eyes as faithfully as the butterfly uses the many 
eyes God has given it, you will be much better off 
than it is, or ever will be. It is because little boys 
and girls keep their eyes shut that they grow up to 
be unlovely and ignorant." 



CHAPTER VII. 

UNCLE SAMUEL RETURNS FROM THE CITY BUTTER- 
FLIES' ANTENNAE — -ANTENNAE OF MOTHS — NUM- 
BER OF JOINTS IN AN ANTENNA WONDERFUL 

SKILL IN ITS STRUCTURE ANTENNA SCALES 

USES OF THE ANTENNAE — CURIOUS CUSTOM OF 
THE RHYSSA LUNATOR — BEES' USE OF THEIR AN- 
TENNA — INTERESTING STORY OF A MOTH — HOW 

BEES COMMUNICATE INTELLIGENCE REMARKABLE 

STORY OF A HUNGRY ANT INSECTS AS WEATHER- 
PROPHETS — HOW THESE FACTS PROVE THE WIS- 
DOM AND GOODNESS OF GOD AND TEACH US 
HUMILITY. 

rTlHE lesson taught at their last interview by 
J- Uncle Samuel was not forgotten by his nephews 
and nieces during the next day when they took their 
places in the school-room. They were very dili- 
gent in study, and consequently answered promptly 
and intelligently the questions asked them by their 
teacher, so that at the close of the day they were 
commended for their good deportment and their 
perfect lessons. They had kept their eyes open and 
tried to make the best possible use of them; and 
when they returned homc ; their great good humor, 

91 



92 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

which always springs from a sense of doing one's 
duty well, brought sunshine and joy to the hearts 
of all in the household. So it was the next day 
and the day following, during which Uncle Samuel 
was absent. 

Their anxiety to hear more about the butterfly 
was so great that they awaited his return with some 
impatience. So, when at the close of school on the 
third day of his absence they learned that he had 
returned, they could scarcely wait till after tea for 
another talk about the butterfly, such a craving ap- 
petite had they for the more wonderful food which 
their uncle supplied them. 

" Uncle," said Bertha, " you said that the butter- 
fly had no horns to fight with, but here are two 
horns; and though they are not like the horns of a 
cow or an ox, they look like little clubs which the 
insect might use to beat away its foes. Don't they 
fight with them ?" 

"Your question is a very natural one for a little 
thoughtful girl as you are, and I will try to answer 
it as well as I can. These horns, or antennae as 
they are called, are very stiff now because this but- 
terfly has been dead several days ; but when it was 
alive, they were very limber, and would bend in 
every direction. The insect had power to move 
them just as it wished, but it could not strike an- 
other insect with them as a boy would strike with 
a club. If it could, the stroke would not hurt its 
enemy nor drive it away, but would injure the in- 



ANTENNJS. 93 

sect itself. They cannot, therefore, be used as a 
means of self-defence. 

" But before I tell you how the insect uses these 
horns, I want to tell you something more about 
their name and structure. As to their name, you 
call them horns, and this is their common name; 
but as they are not used like the horns of animals, 
naturalists have named them antennce. Now, if 
Charlie will only tell us what this word means, we 
will try to find out why such little horns have been 
honored with such a learned name." 

"Antennce means 'sail-yards/" said Charlie; 
"we had that very word in our Latin lesson to- 
day. But I do not see why a butterfly should 
have a sail-yard on each side of its head. It seems 
to me that naturalists have very strong imagina- 
tions if they can see any connection between sail- 
yards and these long horns. Do they help to guide 
the insect when it sails through the air ?" 

" It is believed that this is one of the uses to 
which they are put, and perhaps the one which has 
originated their name. The June beetle, when it 
loses its antennae, cannot direct its flight through 
the air, but flies about in a senseless manner. The 
Cecropia, one of our largest moths, notwithstanding 
it has very large wings, cannot guide its motions 
when its feather-like antennae, which rise so proudly 
above its head, are gone. Or they may be so 
named because they are usually long and slender 
like the yards of a ship ; and in some cases, as the 



94 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

antennae of many moths, they have branching feath- 
ers on opposite sides, so as in some measure to re- 
semble sail-yards with the sails unfurled. They 
are sometimes called feelers, because of their sup- 
posed use as organs of touch, but the true feelers 
are different organs called palpi. 

" The antennae of butterflies are long and made of 
very small pieces jointed together, and end in a knob, 
so that it looks very much like a club. (Fig. 25.) 
To express this resemblance they are sometimes call- 
ed clubiform — that is, like a club. The club that Her- 
cules — a very strong, large man, and a great fighter, 
that lived a great while ago — used was called in Latin 
clava ; so some people call them clavate. Thomas 
Say, who has described a great many butterflies, 
calls the club at the end of the antennae conic-ovate 
— that is, like an egg-shaped cone. I don't think 
this is a very appropriate descriptive word, though 
it is high-sounding. 

" The antennae of moths are unlike those of but- 
terflies, and are of various shapes. (Fig. 25.) Some- 
times they look like little feathers set in the head. 
Sometimes they spread out gradually in the middle 
and taper toward the upper end, terminating in a 
hook. Their different shapes are too numerous for 
me to describe in full. You will observe them as 
you become familiar with different species. 

€i One of the most interesting facts in the struc- 
ture of the antennae of insects is the number of 
the joints of which they are composed, to which I 



B UTTERFLIES* < 1 N TEXNJE. 



95 



might add the manner in which they are put to- 
gether. Those of the honey-bee, short as they are, 
have twelve joints. But here is the microscope. I 




Fig. 25.— Antennje of Butterflies and Moths. 

will place before the object-glass an antenna of a 
pieris butterfly, and you can examine and count for 
yourselves." 

This antenna was examined with great interest by 
each one of our young naturalists, and the number 



96 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

of the joints counted, and they all agreed that it 
was made up of twenty-one distinct joints. The 
antenna of a small moth was next examined, and 
found to have seventy joints. A part of the antenna 
of a very small moth, measuring only one-sixteenth 
part of an inch, was found to be composed of twenty 
joints. By a little calculation they found that each 
joint was only one three hundred and twentieth part 
of an inch in length, so that it takes three hundred 
and twenty of them to make an inch in length. 

"How astonishing!" said Charlie. "Isn't it 
wonderful that such very small pieces can be put 
together so perfectly, and in such a way as to move 
on each other in all directions? I would like to 
know what kind of a joint holds these parts to- 
gether. It cannot be like an elbow-joint, for then 
the antenna would have motion only in two direc- 
tions. They must be jointed somewhat as our head 
is jointed to the neck, so that they can move in all 
directions." 

" You are right," said Uncle Samuel, " in your 
last conjecture. The lower end of each part is 
rounded like a ball, and the upper end is hollowed 
out like a cup, and made to fit the lower end of the 
part above it. We call the joint the ball-and-socket 
joint, and as you see, it gives to each part motion 
in all directions." 

Mary, as she was looking at the antenna of the 
pieris butterfly through the microscope, had her at- 
tention attracted by the little scales that covered 
7 



STRUCTURE OF ANTENNJE. 



97 



them, and with the enthusiasm of a discoverer ex- 
claimed: 

" Just look here at the scales and spines that grow 
on the horns of this butterfly ! I should like to 
know what use they are to it." 

" You are a bright little observer/' said Uncle 
Samuel, "and your inquisitiveness will make you 
a philosopher yet. These scales are very small, in- 
deed, and in shape are similar to those found on the 
wings. My curiosity led me to make drawings of 
the very scales you have just discovered, which I 
will take from my portfolio. 




Fig. 26— Scales of Antennae. 

" Their color doubtless adds much to the beauty 
of this part of the butterfly's head-dress. Other- 
wise their use is not certainly known. Perhaps, if 
the antennae are used as organs of hearing, the 
scales may serve to collect the waves of sound, and 
thus increase their intensity. Or if they are organs 
of touch, the increase of their surface by the scales 
may make their power of feeling more perfect. I 
cannot think that He who created the sun, moon 
and stars, and made man and so wonderfully en- 
dowed him, would make organs with so many joints 
7 



98 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

and scales and spines, and so entirely under the con- 
trol of the insect, unless every part was designed to 
contribute to the continued life and comfort of the 
insect. I believe that He has fitted all His creatures 
for happiness in their respective conditions of being, 
and has given them all the functions necessary to 
the fulfillment of the design of their creation. So, 
although I cannot certainly tell you just how God 
meant that the insect should use all these head-ap- 
pendages, there are some facts that help us to guess 
at their use. 

« When a beetle is suddenly surprised by a sharp 
sound, it stretches its antennae outward, as if in a 
listening attitude ; and when the noise ceases, they 
are placed in their former position. Duncan tells 
us 'that, on close examination, a soft articulating 
membrane can be detected at the base of the anten- 
nae, beneath which the antennal nerve is conducted/ 
and that this membrane may be considered as corre- 
sponding to the tympanum of the internal ear, and 
the nerve alluded to as the acoustic nerve. So the 
stock of the antenna, with its scales, may be regarded 
as analogous to the external ear, collecting the vibra- 
tions of the atmosphere and carrying them by means 
of the antennal nerve to the auditory organ at its base. 

" Kirby says, i How know we that every joint 
of some antennae is not an acoustic organ, in a cer- 
tain sense distinct from the rest ? We see that the 
eyes of insects are usually compound and consist 
of numerous distinct lenses ; why may not their ex- 



DOSES OF THE AKTESNJE. 



99 



ternal ears be also multiplied, so as to enable them 
with more certainty to collect those fine vibrations 
that we know reach their hearing organ, though they 
produce no effect 
upon our grosser or- 
gans?' I like the 
boldness as well as 
reasonableness of this 
conjecture. As God 
has multiplied the 
eyes of insects till 
they are counted by 
thousands, why may 
He not as profuse- 
ly endow them with 
ears, all 



acting 



in 




concert and increas- 
ing their pow r er of 
hearing? 

" Here is a picture 
of a curious insect 
that lays its eggs in 
the bodies of grubs 

,i , i . , • i Fig. 27.— Rhyssa lunator. 

that bore in timber. y 

It has three long tail-appendages, the middle one 
being a tube through which the eggs pass from 
the abdomen into the body of the grub. This is 
called the 'ovipositor, or egg-placer. It is here re- 
presented in the act of laying its eggs. Its name 
is Rhyssa lunator. 



100 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

"Its antennae are long and of great use to it. 
When it is searching for a grub in which to lay its 
eggs, it explores the hole made by the grub first 
with one antenna and then with the other, during 
which operation they quiver intensely to the very 
root. It is not the object of the insect to feel the 
grub, because it only inserts the antenna a short 
distance, and generally the depth of the grub is far 
beyond the length of the antenna. Its evident de- 
sire is to know whether there is any grub in the 
hole or not, and this it ascertains by the use of its 
antennae as organs of hearing, catching by them the 
slightest sound produced by the gnawing of the 
worm. 

" Bees when collecting honey first insert the tips 
of their antennae into the cup of the flow^er. When 
the anthers are bursting or the nectar is exuding, a 
slight noise is produced, which is perceived by the 
inserted antenna. 

"Kirby gives the following instance, which 
vividly illustrates the effect of sound on the an- 
tennae of insects : ' A little moth was reposing upon 
my window. I made a quiet — not loud, but dis- 
tinct — noise; the antenna nearest to me immediately 
moved toward me. I repeated the noise at least a 
dozen of times, and it was followed every time by the 
same motion of that organ, till at length the insect, 
being alarmed, became more agitated and violent in 
its motions/ 'In this instance/ continues he, 'it 
could not be touch, since the antenna was not ap- 



USES OF ANTENNAS. 101 

plied to a surface, but directed toward the quarter 
from which the sound came, as if to listen/ 

" The observations of some naturalists prove that, 
in addition to the function of hearing, antennae are 
sometimes used as organs of touch. Huber tells us 
that when a beehive has lost its queen, the workers 
that first receive the intelligence quit their occupa- 
tion and their immediate circle ; and meeting their 
companions, they cross their antennae, and slightly 
touching them make known the sad news speedily 
to the entire colony. As no one is disposed to 
doubt the accuracy of the observations of this em- 
inent naturalist, the conviction presses itself upon 
us that, by a significant touch or stroke of the 
antennae, bees hold conversation with each other. 
Ants examine with their antennae everything they 
meet, and use them in holding intercourse with 
their companions. Figuier says that 'when an ant 
is hungry and does not wish to leave its work, it 
tells a foraging ant as it passes, by touching it with 
its antennae; the latter approaches it immediately, 
and presents to it on the end of its tongue some juice 
it has disgorged for this purpose/ 

" Still another function is conceived to belong to 
these organs. It is supposed that some wonderful 
property residing in them enables insects unerringly 
to foresee approaching changes in the weather ; that 
is, the antennae are to insects what the barometer 
is to the mariner. Before the coming of a storm, 
although the intelligence of man can perceive no 



102 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

indication of its approach, bees that are foraging 
return immediately to their hives. They seem to 
see the gathering storm-cloud and to hear the thun- 
der long before the lightning-flash, and like wise 
men betake themselves to the shelter of their busy 
homes. If a fine, pleasant day is to succeed the 
present one, they will wander far from their homes 
and remain away all day. If rain is approaching, 
though all indications of wet weather are wanting 
to us, they will venture but a short distance from 
their hives and remain but a short time away. 
Ants possess the same instinct; for though they 
bring out their young daily to repose in the bright 
sunshine, they are never overtaken by a storm. 
This wonderful gift of foretelling atmospheric 
changes, so common to many insects, is supposed 
to reside in their antennae. It may be that these 
organs are peculiarly susceptible of the influence 
of the electric fluid, and in this way communicate 
to the insect a knowledge of the state of the at- 
mosphere. 

" While, therefore, we cannot tell with certainty 
the various uses of the antennae, it is quite evident 
that they are designed for special ends which are 
of great advantage to the insect. And does not 
God, by the mystery in which these remarkable 
organs are involved, design to increase our rever- 
ence for his skill and wisdom and teach us humil- 
ity ? We call these diminutive creatures insignif- 
icant, and some think we lower ourselves when 



RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 103 

making their structure and history subjects of 
study. But small as they are, we find in them the 
hiding of the power of the great Creator as truly 
as in the mighty agencies that control the universe. 
How humble we should feel when we find ourselves 
searching in vain for knowledge which insects pos- 
sess as a natural gift from God ! ' How great are 
thy works, O Lord! In wisdom hast thou made 
them all.' " 

Seldom has any lecturer as attentive listeners as 
had Uncle Samuel during his long talk. His young 
friends hung upon his lips with intense interest. 
Mary's inquisitiveness had called forth a satisfac- 
tory answer, and Charlie gave intelligent expression 
to his renewed convictions of the wisdom and good- 
ness of God as manifest in the antennae of insects. 
They could all now examine these organs in butter- 
flies and moths with an interest they never felt be- 
fore. As they stood before their uncle's collection 
of insects they were particularly impressed with 
the great difference, already alluded to, in the 
structure of the antennae of the two classes of 
Lepidoptera. 

Having examined for some time longer the an- 
tennae of different tribes of insects, they separated 
for the night, committing themselves to the kind 
care of their heavenly Father. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE PAPILIO TURNUS — HOW TO PREPARE SPECIMENS 

FOR THE CABINET — THE BUTTERFLY'S TRUNK 

BERTHA'S CONJECTURE — WHY CALLED PROBOSCIS 

ITS STUCTURE — A CAPITAL ARRANGEMENT — A 

LESSON OF ORDER — MICROSCOPICAL VIEW OF THE 
PROBOSCIS — WHY GOD MAKES SMALL OBJECTS SO 
BEAUTIFUL — HOW THE BUTTERFLY USES ITS 
TRUNK — PROBOSCIS OF FLIES — LESSONS TAUGHT. 

nnHE following evening, when the children en- 
JL tered their uncle's study, they brought with 
them a magnificent specimen of the Papilio turnus. 
It is called turnus after one of the ancient kings. 
It is one of the most splendid of butterflies ; and, 
as it is swift-winged and hard to capture, it was 
valued by Uncle Samuel as a fine acquisition to 
his cabinet. Having his chloroform-jar near him, 
he placed his newly-captured specimen in it, and 
it was soon fast asleep. This was to them a 
new operation, and they asked for an explanation. 
Their uncle showed them that chloroform ic air 
could not preserve life, and that in this way a 
butterfly could more readily and tenderly be pre- 
pared to take its place among other specimens in the 

104 



THE BUTTERFLY'S TRUNK. 105 

cabinet — that after it had been about twenty-four 
hours in the jar he would take it out and put it on 
the setting-board, on which he would place its wings 
and antennae in the proper position, and keep it 
there till its muscles would become stiff and dry. 

" When it was caught," said James, " it would 
stretch out and then roll up and put away under its 
lower lip a long trunk, just as if it did not know 
what to do with itself, and wanted to tell us that it 
didn't fancy being caught, and would like very much 
to pull itself out of our hands. I have often seen 
butterflies sitting on the edge of flowers with their 
trunks stretched out to their full length; and when 
ready to fly away, they would roll up their trunks 
and put them away out of the road. I should like 
to know what they do with this instrument. It 
must be of some use, for every butterfly I ever saw 
had one." 

" I 'spect they eat with them," said Bertha. 

" What a notion, Bertha !" said Mary. " Do you 
think a butterfly can eat with that long thing? 
Why, it isn't a mouth. The butterfly can't bite 
flowers with it. Maybe it holds itself up with it 
while it feeds on the flower. It is a curious thing, 
anyhow. I don't see how it can be of any great 
use, and I'm sure it's not so very handsome." 

M You are very much mistaken in your philos- 
ophy, Mary," said Uncle Samuel. " If you should 
write a book on this subject and read it to a con- 
vention of insects, they would all stamp their feet 



106 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

and shout at your strange notions, and then, rising 
up all over the room, they would tell you that you 
were as ignorant as an owl, and that you had better 
come and live among insects and learn something 
before you attempted to teach others. Bertha is 
nearer right, if she did come from the city. It is 
an instrument that belongs to the butterfly's mouth, 
and is used for taking in its food ; and if you should 
cut it off, it would die." 

" Now, uncle," said Mary, who was a little skep- 
tical, notwithstanding his keen criticism, " if it can 
eat with such a long trunk as that, I would like to 
know how." 

" You know that all animals do not live on the 
same kind of food, so God has kindly given to 
each one such instruments as enable it to find and 
eat its appropriate food. The lion with its strong 
claws, its great teeth, and rough, file-like tongue, 
seizes its prey and devours it. The bills of birds 
are so formed that they can best procure and take 
in their food. The strong jaws of caterpillars en- 
able them to cut and masticate the coarse leaf on 
which they feed." 

" What does masticate mean ?" asked Marv. 

"I know," said Bertha. "I have heard my 
father and mother use it often. It means to crush 
with the teeth, to chew. I was thinking how a cat- 
erpillar could chew, when it had no teeth." 

" That is a very sensible thought, Bertha. It is 
because the caterpillar does with its jaws what we 



THE BUTTERFLY'S TRUNK. 107 

do with our teeth that it is said to chew or masti- 
cate its coarse food. The butterfly does not live on 
animal food like the lion, nor on the leaves of trees 
like the caterpillar, but on the honey that is found 
away down in the cups of flowers. If it ever takes 
its food like other animals, it must be provided with 
a long tube-like tongue or trunk with which to 
reach down into the cup that contains its food. So, 
when the caterpillar is changed into the butterfly or 
moth, its eating organs are changed to suit its new 
tastes and new mode of life. When James saw the 
butterflies stretching out their long trunks while 
they were sitting on a flower or hovering over it, 
they were taking their food. The trunk of the 
butterfly is its eating organ. It is long, because 
otherwise the butterfly could not reach its food. It 
is hollow like a tube, so that the honey may ascend 
it into the mouth of the insect. It is altogether 
under the control of the butterfly; and when not in 
use, it is put away in a groove prepared for it under 
the lower lip. Could any instrument be better 
adapted to the wants and habits of the butterfly 
than such a spiral trunk ? It is called also a pro- 
boscis — a word derived from two Greek words, 
one meaning 'before' (the eyes), and the other ' to 
feed/ and suggestive of the use to which it is 
applied. 

" I have here a microscopic view of a butterfly's 
proboscis, which will help you to understand its 
structure. (Fig. 28 represents the entire proboscis 



108 



RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 



partly unrolled and greatly enlarged. Fig. 29 rep- 
resents the two divisions of the proboscis partly sep- 




Fig. 28. 



Fig. 29. 



arate. Fig. 30 represents a section of the proboscis, 

after Reaumur.) 

"This wonderful instrument 
is formed of cartilage, and com- 
posed of rings or transverse 
sections, as seen in Fig. 30. 
These sections are so put to- 
gether as to be readily rolled 
up when not in use. Thus the 
Creator has not only provided 
this insect with a suitable in- 
strument for taking its food, 

Fig. 30. j^ g() cons t ruc t e( l if th^ with- 

out damage or pain it can be safely and promptly 
laid aside when not employed." 

"How splendid," exclaimed Henry, "to have a 
place near one all the time into which to put away 
things when one is not using them ! I think it 
would be a capital arrangement for James, for he 




USES OF THBANTENNM 109 

is always losing his books, and he never knows 
where he lays down the axe or saw when he is 
done with it. One day he had to go to school 
without his slate because he forgot where he had 
put it, and he afterward found it in the wood-house 
— a queer place for a slate. He had better go to 
the butterfly and learn to be orderly." 

"You are all guilty in this respect," said Uncle 
Samuel; "and I hope hereafter, when you have fin- 
ished the reading of a book or the use of a tool, you 
will think of the butterfly, and go at once and put 
it in its place, that you may know where to find it 
when you want to use it again. By practicing ac- 
cording to this suggestion precious time will be 
saved, and valuable books and tools will be pre- 
served. 

" This proboscis is composed of two pieces, which 
can be separated throughout their whole extent. (See 
Fig. 29.) Each of these pieces contains a tube ex- 
tending throughout its entire length ; and being 
grooved on the inner side, they form, when united, 
another canal in the centre, of greater capacity than 
either of the other two. The junction is perfectly 
air-tight, and is effected by a countless number of 
fillets resembling those of a feather, which interlace 
and adhere to each other. The honey of the flower 
passes into the mouth through the middle tube. 
The use of the side tubes is not certainly known. 

" Duncan suggests that they may be employed 
in transmitting air in aid of breathing. But why 



110 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

such an arrangement should be made for such a 
purpose, when the insect is so well provided with 
breathing-pores in its sides, I cannot see. I should 
rather believe the side tubes to be a mechanical 
provision by which the tube is strengthened and its 
flexibility increased. This suggestion agrees well 
with the general law observed in the structure of 
animals, by which bones are strengthened by being 
made tubular and their elasticity is increased. And 
such is the economy of the great Master-builder of 
the universe that He never uses any more material 
than is necessary for the accomplishment of the 
purpose designed in the structure of any organ." 

u I see something like small feathers at the outer 
end of the proboscis," said Charlie, " and have been 
trying to find out of what use they can be. But I 
give it up." 

"These filaments are membranous, and are not 
like feathers either in their structure or use. They 
are more like leaflets, and some naturalists think 
they are used to draw into the trunk the fluid on 
which the insect lives. Reaumur, after long and 
careful observation, regarded them only as so many 
points of support by which the organ is rendered 
more steady, and thus better adapted to the purpose 
for which it was designed. 

"Here is a slide containing a butterfly's trunk. 
I will place it before the microscope and give Mary 
an opportunity of correcting her opinion about its 
beauty." 



VSB8 OF THE ANTENNJEL 111 

How surprised and astonished were our young 
naturalists as they one by one looked at the picture 
before them ! 

"Is that a real proboscis, uncle," asked Mary, 
"or are you just making believe?" 

" How beautiful it is !" said Bertha. " Superb ! 
I think the little butterfly would be so proud if it 
could only look at itself through the microscope." 

" The colors are so richly combined," said Char- 
lie, " one would think it was a perfect piece of mo- 
saic. I don't wonder, Cousin Bertha, you think the 
butterfly might be proud to be able to flourish such 
an ornamental mouthpiece. Those barbarians I 
read about to-day, that wear great rings of ivory 
or gold in their noses and are proud of them, would 
be doubly proud if they had such a splendid orna- 
ment growing out of their under-lip. The peacock's 
tail don't compare with it in beauty, and yet you see 
how the lordly proprietor walks about our yard with 
his tail spread out and with stately step, just as if 
he owned the township. But I cannot clearly see 
why God should lavish the most brilliant colors 
upon things so small that their existence cannot be 
discovered without the use of the microscope." 

u We cannot fully understand the works of God, 
but we do know that his wisdom is infinite, and 
that lie is not at any time guilty of a wasteful squan- 
dering of ornament. He may love beauty for its 
own sake, and therefore clothe with richly-colored 
garments the smallest of his creatures. Or he may 



112 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

thus conceal the glory of his handiwork from the 
casual observer that its discovery may repay the 
diligent research of those who would seek for the 
gems of beauty which he has everywhere scattered 
among his works." 

"How does the butterfly use its trunk when it 
wants its food?" asked James. 

"Does it ever get its bright colors rubbed out?" 
asked Mary. " I don't think it would like to use 
it every day, for fear it might be soiled. Isn't it a 
beauty?" 

" It knows how to take care of its beautiful dress," 
said Uncle Samuel, " as well as the most tidy little 
girl knows how to keep her books and dresses clean, 
so do not be concerned about the soiling of its trunk 
while it pumps up the honey from the centre of the 
flower. There is a beautiful description of the way 
the butterfly uses its proboscis in The Insect World, 
which one of you may read. I have marked it for 
your benefit." 

Taking the book from his uncle, James read as 
follows : 

"When it is fluttering round a flower, it will 
very soon settle on or quite close to it. It then 
brings its trunk forward entirely, or almost entire- 
ly, unrolled ; very soon afterward it almost straight- 
ens it, directs it downward, and plunges it into the 
flower. Sometimes it draws it out a moment after, 
curves it, twists it a little, and sometimes even curls 
it partially up. Immediately it straightens it again, 



USES OF THE ANTENNAE. 



113 




to plunge it a second time into the same flower. It 
repeats the same manoeuvre seven or eight times, 
and then flies on to another." * 

"The proboscis of flies" (Fig. 31), continued 
Uncle Samuel, "usually ends 
with two fleshy lips, and is 
provided with several fine 
bristles, which are sometimes 
as sharp as needles, and with 
these they pierce the skin of 
their victim. These bristles 
really take the place of jaws 
in biting insects, and hence 
people speak of being bitten 
by gnats or mosquitoes. (Fig. 
3*2.) They often cause their ** 3i.-pkoboscis of a 

' " . Fly. 

saliva to flow freely into the 

wounds they make, producing inflammation and itch- 
ing. The saliva may prepare the blood which the 
insect extracts for more speedy digestion. Or Prov- 
idence may have designed, by the pain inflicted, to 
warn us of their attacks, so that we may protect 
ourselves against them, and becoming their de- 
stroyers aid in setting bounds to their increase." 

This conversation was kept up to a late hour, yet 
not one of the children became wearied, and Char- 
lie, whose thoughtful mind suggested reflections 
sometimes beyond his years, said, 

u I have learned several lessons from what you 

* Insect World, by Louis Figuier, page 174. 
8 



114 



RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 



have told us about this important and beautiful or- 
gan which God has given to the butterfly. 

" One lesson is, that God is very good and kind 
to the butterfly. He has provided its food already 
prepared for its use in the cup of the flower, and 
has fitted up for it an apparatus by which it can 

reach that food and 
draw it up to its 
mouth. Will He 
not, therefore, pro- 
vide for us? I 
think I can trust 
in Him more than 
I have ever done. 
I can now under- 
stand more clearly 
what you told us on 
the evening of the 
Lord's day, that 
6 His goodness is 
over all His works/ 
"Another lesson is, that if we get a living in this 
world we must work for it. The butterfly must fly 
off to the fields, hunt flowers, and use its trunk ac- 
tively and industriously before it can get its break- 
fast. If it were idle and should stay at home and 
not work, it would soon starve to death, for it could 
receive no food from any of its sister-butterflies. 
So, if we are idle and refuse to work, Ave shall soon 
be without food. I recollect a verse in the Scrip- 




Fig. 32.— Head and Trunk op 
Female Gnat. 



USES OF THE ANTENNM 115 

hires which says, * If any would not work, neither 
should he eat.' * I see now that this is one of the 
laws of nature, and I will try never to forget it." 

" Your lessons are very aptly drawn from the 
facts. But there is another lesson which they sug- 
gest. God has provided rich food in the gospel for 
hungry, perishing sinners. It is as free to them as 
the honey in the flowers is to the butterfly or the 
bee. As these insects receive no benefit from the 
honey laid up for them without going after it and 
drawing it up from the flower, so neither will you 
receive any benefit from the salvation which Jesus 
has provided for you unless you go to Him by 
faith, and receive it from His hands. Will you 
not all remember this lesson? and acting according 
to it, will you not go at once to Christ and receive 
the pardon of sins and eternal life ? Jesus says, 
1 Whosoever will, let him come and take of the 
water of life freely/ " 

* 2 Thess iii. 10. 



CHAPTER IX. 

SCENE IN THE FAMILY-ROOM — BIBLE STORY ABOUT 
LOCUSTS — UNCLE SAMUEL ENTERS — CORRECTS 

FALSE IMPRESSIONS HISTORY OF THE CICADA 

SEPTEMDECIM — COLORADO GRASSHOPPER — ITS RE- 
MARKABLE CAREER — THE MIGRATORY LOCUST 

ITS VORACIOUSNESS — HOW THE MOTHER-LOCUST 
LAYS HER EGGS — ITS WONDERFUL MUSICAL IN- 
STRUMENT ITS ENEMIES THE DIFFERENT DE- 
VICES USED TO DRIVE THE LOCUSTS FROM THE 
COUNTRY — SINGULAR STORY OF A MONK IN ETHI- 
OPIA — VAIN SCHEME OF THE ARABS — WHY CALLED 
LOCUSTS — MORAL TEACHINGS. 

IT was Saturday morning, and our young friends 
were assembled in the family-room, according 
to their custom on this day of the w^eek, each 
with Bible in hand, to study the Scripture lesson 
for the Sabbath-school. Charlie opened his Bible 
and read the lesson aloud. It was in the tenth 
chapter of Exodus, and contained the history of 
the plague of locusts, which God sent to punish 
Pharaoh, king of Egypt. This event having taken 
place about fifteen hundred years before Christ, 
they wondered whether there were any such de- 
structive locusts now. 

116 



A DISCUSSION ABOUT LOCUSTS. 117 

u Don't you remember," said James, " how nu- 
merous the locusts were last year in the woods and 
orchards, and what lots of them we caught? I 
think they must have descended from the locusts 
of Egypt, for they kept all the time singing P-h-a- 
r-a-o-h, P-h-a-r-a-o-h. I can almost imagine I 
hear them now." 

"Our locusts must be a very different kind from 
the locusts of Egypt, or else they have improved 
in their tastes and morals since the time of Moses," 
answered Henry. "The Bible tells us that 'they 
did eat every herb of the land, and all the fruit of 
the trees which the hail had left ; and there re- 
mained not any green thing in the trees, or in the 
herbs of the field, through all the land of Egypt/ 
But the locusts of last year did not destroy the 
fruit nor eat a single leaf. They only injured the 
ends of the limbs by cutting a ring through the 
bark, so that they withered and fell to the ground 
before the eggs which were laid in them were 
hatched." 

Charlie, who had observed the habits of these 
locusts more closely than his brothers, said, "I do 
not think that even this injury was as great as you 
represent it to be. The falling of the wounded 
limb was the exception rather than the rule, and I 
have observed that when the limb containing eggs 
fell off, the eggs seldom hatched. The great ma- 
jority of the wounded limbs remained green and 
recovered. The eggs in these limbs grew large be- 



118 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

fore hatching, while the eggs in the dry and dead 
limbs were always shriveled. I noticed that be- 
tween the 20th of July and the 1st of August the 
eggs that remained on the trees hatched, and that 
the young locust dropped to the ground of its own 
accord. The fall never hurt the little thing, be- 
cause it was so light that it fell as gently and as 
softly as a feather. It seems to me that the life 
of the limb is necessary to the health of the egg, 
and that the circulation of the sap in the branch 
somehow helps the egg to hatch out the young. I 
don't understand it, but I believe what I see, and I 
know there must be some relation between the life 
of the limb and the size and hatching of the- egg." 

Mary's inquisitiveness was excited by the story 
of the young locust falling to the ground, and she 
asked, " How did the little child of the locust know 
that it had to get to the ground ? and who told it 
that the ground was below it, and that it could get 
there by letting go and falling?" 

" It is very strange," answered Charlie, " how 
the young locust always knows so well how to act 
and where to go. It seems to me that insects be- 
come very wise just as soon as they are born. They 
always know just what to do, and how to do it. 
They do not need any mother to teach them, nor 
do they stop to reason, or even to think, before they 
act. The little locust not a day old falls to the 
ground just as if it had done so a hundred times, 
and as soon as it touches the earth it begins to bur- 



BIBLE LESSON. 119 

row its way down to the roots of the plants or trees 
from which it is to draw the juices that nourish it. 
God gave the young insect this knowledge, and 
taught it how to find its own food. We ought to 
love God, who is so kind to such apparently useless 
little creatures, and believe that he will take still 
better care of us if we trust in him and serve him." 

Just then the door opened, and Uncle Samuel en- 
tered and took his seat in the cozy arm-chair that 
was always ready for him in the family-room. It 
was a pleasant scene that greeted him. Around the 
table were seated his three nephews, with their lit- 
tle sister and their city cousin, having their open 
Bibles before them. They were evidently intensely 
interested in the study of their Scripture lesson ; 
and when their uncle entered, their countenances 
were all aglow with delight, for they knew that he 
would help them out of their difficulties and an- 
swer any questions they would ask him. 

" I am glad to see you so diligent this morning," 
said their uncle. " This is your Bible morning, I 
perceive, and you seem to be studying like little 
theologians. What is the story that has interested 
you so greatly ?" 

" It's the story of the plague of the locusts," an- 
swered Henry, "and Ave have been talking about 
the locusts that were so numerous in our region 
last year. James thinks that they came all the 
way from Egypt, but I don't think they did. Now, 
we want to know which is right. Did last year's 



120 R AMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

locusts descend from those that ate up every herb 
in the land of Egypt?" 

"No. They are not locusts at all. People mis- 
name them locusts because they come in such great 
numbers, and so they imagine that they are always 
crying P-h-a-r-a-o-h. But they ought not to be so 
called, since they belong to a very different order of 
insects. 

"The i locusts' you saw last year belong to the 
order of insects called bugs. This order is divided 
into two groups. One of them is known as the true 
bugs, and are such as the squash-h\\g and the plant- 
hug. The other contains the harvest-flies, the plant- 
lice and bark-lice. The wings of the latter are thin 
and clear throughout. They have wing-covers, but 
they are not dark and thick, like those of beetles, 
but transparent, like the true wings. Such wings 
you doubtless noticed on the locusts, for they be- 
long to this group, and are a species of harvest- 

fly. 

"Scientific men call this order of insects, from 
the kind of wings they have, JHemiptera — that is, 
^a/f- winged — and the first group they name the true 
Hemiptera. The second group, to which our locust 
belongs, they call Hemiptera Aomoptera— that is, like- 
winged Hemiptera — because the wing-covers are of 
the same texture throughout. 

"There is another order of insects, called Ortho- 
ptera, or straight-winged, because they all fold their 
wings lengthwise, like the folding of a fan. It is 



CICADA SEPTEMDECIM. 121 

to this order that the true locust belongs. It can- 
not, therefore, be the ancestor of the locust that in- 
fested our region last year, any more than the lion 
could be the ancestor of the cow. 

" The correct family name of our locust is Cicada 
— the name which the ancient Latins gave to har- 
ms£-flies. The chief peculiarity of this harvest-fly 
is that its larva lives under ground seventeen years 
before it is ready to change into its winged or per- 
fect state. From this fact is derived its specific 
name of septemdecim, which is the Latin word for 
seventeen. We have, then, its true name in English 
— the seventeen-year harvest-fly. There is also a 
so-called thirteen-year locust, called Cicada tredecim, 
although it has not been vet decided that it differs 
specifically from the seventeen-year cicada. It is 
not, then, as you see, even a distant relation of the 
Egyptian locust, and it ought to bring a suit against 
its defamers for slander when they persist in call- 
ing it a locust. 

" You all know that this so-called locust did not 
eat the leaves of trees. It has no taste for that 
kind of food, and no mouth-apparatus for cutting 
and chewing the leaf. It is provided with a piercer 
and sucker, by which it penetrates the tender bark 
of the trees and drinks the sap. Of this kind of 
food it is very fond, and cannot live on any other. 
You might as well expect a house-fly to eat the 
leaves of the trees as our locusts to do so. 

" I have some drawings of this insect in my port- 



122 



RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 



folio which will greatly assist you in the study of 
its history, if one of you will please bring it down 
from my study. " 

This was very quickly done by Bertha and Mary, 

who had become so 
much interested in 
their uncle's re- 
marks that they 
were very anxious to 
• F ^- 33 - see the illustrations. 

" Here is a greatly-magnified picture of the larva 





Fig. 34. 



(Fig. 33) just as it comes from the egg. It is very 
small when hatched, but is well supplied with large 



ITS HISTORY. 123 

and powerful front legs armed with strong claws, with 
which to dig its way through the world. Look, too, 
at its long eight-jointed antennae; and if it was the 
living larva, you would see how rapidly and skill- 
fully it uses them. 

" In this group (Fig. 34) you see this insect in 
the other three stages of its life; a represents the 
]nipa ; b, the pupa-skin after the perfect insect has 
escaped ; c, the perfect insect ; c/, incisions in bark 
of limb for receiving the eggs, e. 

"When. the cicada-mother is ready to lay her 
eggs, she clasps the selected branch w r ith her legs, 
and then, bending down her piercer (Fig. 35), 
she thrusts it into the bark and wood 
so as to bore a hole obliquely to the y^j^L 
pith. By repetitions of the same opera- y^^K 
tion she makes a fissure of sufficient wM,./ 
length to receive from ten to twenty f^^\ 
eggs. She now proceeds to fill thecav- K5~>I 
ity with eggs by means of the piercer, 
which serves as an egg-layer, or, as 
scientific men say, an ovipositor. When 
she has done this, she removes a little ( 
distance and makes another nest in the x±y- 
same way, filling it with eggs. It takes Fi 9- 35 - 
her about fifteen minutes to make a fissure and fill 
it with eggs, and she not unfrequently will make 
fifteen or twenty fissures in the same limb. The 
punctured twig is represented in Fig. 34, d. Some 
of these twigs die and fall to the ground, while 



124 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

many others live, and when healed of their wounds 
present the appearance of Fig. 36. The beak or 
mouthpiece of the cicada, by which it 
takes its nourishment, is represented in 
Fig. 35. This is also the instrument by 
which it stings, and not the ovipositor. 

"To protect themselves against the 
water in low and wet places, the pupse, 
when about to transform into perfect in- 
sects, continue the galleries which they 
ordinarily make to the surface of the 
ground, as represented in Fig. 37, a, full 
view, and 6, sectional view. In the upper 
end of these chambers the pupse wait 
quietly the time of their change, and 
then back down to below the level of 
Ftg. 36. ^} ie earth, as at d, and issuing forth from 
the opening e attach themselves to the nearest ob- 
ject and pass through the process of freeing them- 
selves from the pupal case, leaving the dry empty 
shell for the joyous freedom of their new life. 

" This structure is a remarkable instance of the 
provision which insects make to protect themselves 
against injury from natural forces which must be 
foreseen in time to make the provision. Let it ex- 
cite our admiration of the wisdom of the wonder- 
working God, who alone could endow this insect 
with skill and give it instinctive knowledge of the 
very time when this skill is to be used." 

"Uncle," asked James, "if the locust that we 



CALOPTENUS SPRUTl's. 



125 



saw last year is not a true locust, what kind of an 
insect is the Colorado grasshopper, that did so much 
damage in the West last harvest? I should think 
they ate leaves with a vengeance, for there was not 




Fig. 37. 

a leaf left on the trees nor a spear of grass in the 
fields on which they settled." 

"This grasshopper, called Caloptenus spretus, or 
the hateful grasshopper, has become very destructive 
to vegetation in our States west of the Mississippi 
of late years. It belongs to the order Orthoptera, 
and is doubtless a member of the same family to 
which the Egyptian locust belongs. 

" It does not differ much from the common 
red-legged grasshopper, with which you are famil- 
iar, as these cuts will show. Fig. 38, a, repre- 
sents the C. spretus; b the C. femur-rubrum, or red- 



126 



RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 




Fig. 38. 



legged grasshopper. You notice that the wings of 
the former are about a fifth longer than the wings 
of the latter, by which it is enabled to fly miles at 

a stretch, while our 
common species can 
only fly a rod or two 
at a time. The 'hate- 
ful grasshoppers' fly 
ordinarily from five 
to ten miles in a 
day ; and when on 
the wing, they make 
a rushing and roaring noise, hide the sun from view, 
and appear like so many moving snow-flakes. When 
they light down, l they soon make a clean sweep of 
every green thing, occupying and possessing the whole 
country as they slowly proceed from point to point/ 
" The locust that was sent to plague the Egypt- 
ians was a kind of grasshopper, and, like the hate- 
ful grasshopper, was provided w T ith jaws for cutting 
leaves and grass and gnawing the bark of trees, and 
with organs just suited for the digestion of such 
heavy, coarse food. It could no more live on the 
juices of plants, as the harvest-fly does, than the 
tiger can live on grass." 

" Have you a specimen of the true locust in your 
cabinet, uncle ?" asked Henry. 

" I have not ; but I have here a picture of a spe- 
cies of locust very abundant in the East, called the 
migratory locust, or, as the scientific books have it, 



LOCUST A MIGBATOBIA. 



127 



Loatsta migratoria. (Fig. 39.) This locust is be- 
lieved to be the lineal descendant of the locusts that 
are described in the Scriptures. 

"Since the time of Moses a great many genera- 
tions of the migratory locust have come and gone. 
In the mean time the world has grown wiser and 
better, but nothing has improved the tastes, man- 
ners or morals of these destructive pests. They are 
as unchangeable as the ' infallible pope/ They 
keep up to this day the daring and ferocity of the 




Fig. 39. — Locusta migratoria, 

days of their ancient crusades, and settling in in- 
numerable hordes upon the woods and cultivated 
fields of Eastern countries, they leave 4 not any green 
thing in the trees nor in the herbs of the field/ " 

u Look !" said Bertha ; " it is just like a great big 
grasshopper. What a large head, and what strong 
legs ! Wouldn't I be afraid if one of them would 
light on me ! I suppose all the little Egyptian 
girls would run away from them when they saw 
them coming." 

%i Yes, Bertha, it resembles the grasshopper very 



128 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

much, only its horns are proportionately shorter. 
The thighs of its hind legs are thicker, so that it 
can leap much farther than the common grasshop- 
per. It has also a greater power of flight, for the 
wing-covers, being narrow, do not prevent its free 
passage through the air, while its large w r ings, form- 
ing half a circle when expanded, are moved by 
very strong muscles, by which its flight is sustain- 
ed for hours. 

" When a large number of them take flight at 
the same time, they make a sound like the rushing 
of a whirlwind. In the ninth chapter of the Reve- 
lation, and ninth verse, the sound of their wings is 
described c as the sound of chariots, of many horses 
running in battle/ The prophet Joel describes their 
sound as i like the noise of chariots on the tops of 
mountains, and like the noise of a flame of fire that 
devoureth the stubble/ 

"I must not forget to tell you of a singular ar- 
rangement which the female has for the purpose of 
burrowing a hole in the ground in which to deposit 
her eggs. At the end of her body are four short 
wedge-like instruments, placed in pairs above and 
below, so as to open and shut opposite to each other, 
making a double pair of nippers, with four short 
blades instead of two. 

" Now let us imagine one of these insects about 
to lay her eggs. See how carefully she selects a 
spot of ground suited to her operations. Fixing 
herself in the proper attitude for her work, she 



LOCUSTA MIQRATORIA. 129 

drives her little wedges into the earth ; and opening 
and withdrawing them, she enlarges the cavity. She 
then inserts them again and again, repeating the 
same operation each time, until she has made a cell 
about an inch and a half deep. This cell and its 
tubular entrance she coats with a kind of glutinous 
matter. She is now 7 ready to deposit her eggs, which 
are usually about seventy in number. She does 
not, like some insect-mothers, lay in a store of 
provisions for her children, for she knows they will 
look out for themselves as soon as they escape from 
the egg. Wood tells us that i the young do not at- 
tain their wings for three years, and during that 
period are called in Southern Africa by the popu- 
lar and expressive Dutch name of voet-gangers, or 
foot-goers' 

"They have no voices for song, but the males 
have a remarkable taste for instrumental music. 
They carry their little fiddles with them, and wher- 
ever they alight they keep up a constant chorus of 
strange and noisy music. The veins of the under 
side of their wing-covers are the strings of their 
violins, and under them, in their body, is a deep 
cavity with a thin piece of skin stretched tightly 
over it, like a drum-head. This is the body of the 
violin, which increases the sound. Their hind legs 
are the bows which play on these veins or fiddle- 
strings, and make them vibrate. When a locust 
begins to play, he bends his hind leg under the 
thigh, where it enters a furrow made for it; then 
9 



130 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

he draws the leg swiftly across the veins of the 
wing-cover. He does not play both fiddles to- 
gether, but alternately, first upon one, and then on 
the other. This music is so pleasing to the ear of 
Spaniards that it is said that they often keep 
them in cages at their homes for the sake of the 
tunes they play on their fiddles. 

" Their great appetite makes it necessary for 
them to go from place to place in search of food ; 
so God lias given them great and strong wings, and 
although ' they have no king, they go forth, all of 
them, by bands/ In the evening they gather to- 
gether in one place and rest upon shrubs and trees, 
sometimes breaking the limbs with the weight of 
their numbers. In the morning, as soon as the sun 
has made it sufficiently warm, they take wing again, 
but not without leaving behind them the earth 
stripped of its greenness and the shrubs peeled of 
their bark. Desolation marks the course of their 
journeyings. 

" But they are not without their enemies. They 
furnish food to beasts of prey, birds, serpents, liz- 
ards, frogs and men. Moffat tells us that the people 
of Southern Africa consider them good food, and 
capture them by the thousands. They prepare 
them for eating by boiling or steaming them. 
After boiling a short time they are spread on 
mats in the sun to dry ; then they are winnowed 
to clear away the wings and legs ; after which they 
are put in sacks or laid in a heap on the floor of the 



STRANGE STORIES. 131 

house, to be used as needed. They eat them whole 
or make meal of them ; they prepare a kind of stir- 
about, of which they are very fond, and on which 
they become very fat." 

" Is it in Africa alone that these locusts are 
found ?" asked James. 

u They are found also in Italy, in the south of 
France, in India and in China. Everywhere they 
are regarded as a great curse, and very curious 
means have been used to banish them. The negroes 
of Soudan try to frighten them by savage and hid- 
eous yells. But, regardless of their yells, they go 
on with their work of destruction till they can find 
nothing more to destroy, and then they leave of 
their own accord. In Hungary the people fire can- 
nons at them. But they are as fearless of gunpowder 
as of savage yells, and do not mind the roar of the 
heaviest artillery. In the south of France the gov- 
ernment pays a royalty for the destruction of their 
eggs, which is a more sensible and sure way of 
diminishing their number. 

" In the Middle Ages, when the priests of Rome 
had everything their own way, these infatuated men 
thought they could drive them out of any country 
by heaping the curses of the pope on them. I once 
read a story about a monk of Ethiopia who under- 
took in this way to rid the country of these pests. 
At a time when they were very numerous he as- 
sembled the natives and told them about the great 
power of the pope — how he controlled everything 



132 EAMBLES AMONG INSECTS, 

in heaven above and in the earth beneath — and that 
in his name he would command the locusts to leave 
the country, and they would promptly obey him. 
He then asked them to chant some psalms with 
him, and after this act of worship he addressed 
himself authoritatively to the greater congregation 
of locusts, which hung over them in a dense cloud, 
shutting out the light of the sun. He told them 
how wicked it was to destroy the gardens of the 
Christians, and thus to sin against the Church and 
the pope, and excommunicated them — that is, put 
them out of the Church, giving them over to Satan. 
He then charged them, as they valued their future 
welfare, to leave immediately the land of the Chris- 
tians and go either to the sea or to the land of the 
heretical Moors." 

" And did they go away ?" asked Mary, who was 
beginning to feel her sympathy awakening for the 
poor locusts, and to wish that they would save 
themselves from the curse of the monk. 

" Not at all. The self-willed locusts never let 
on that they heard him, but settled right down 
on the trees and shrubs and plants, and began their 
work of destruction, having no respect for the gar- 
dens or orchards of Christians." 

"And wouldn't the old monk be very angry at 
them for not doing what he told them?" asked 
Bertha. 

" I suppose he was, for he seized a number of 
them, so that he might be certain that they at least 



THE KORAN AND THE LOCUSTS. 133 

heard what he had to say, and, shouting aloud, he 
called on all the birds and animals and tempests to 
drive these pests away; and, letting his captives go, 
he told them to tell their companions what terrible 
punishment would be inflicted on them by Heaven 
if they did not leave the country immediately. But 
they were as obstinate as ever, and never thought 
of leaving till they had destroyed every green 
thing." 

" What a fool that monk must have been !" said 
James. " He ought to have known that the locusts 
could not understand a word he was saying, and 
that they did not belong to the Church and would 
not care for his curses." 

" It shows," said Charlie, " how much ignorance 
there was in those days, and how dark were the 
minds of even the wisest of churchmen. We ought 
to be very thankful that we have the Bible to teach 
us the truth and are not misled by the popish faith 
of the Catholics. I have no doubt the monk was a 
wiser man after his experiment, and that he had 
less confidence in the power of the pope over such 
obstinate heretics as the locusts." 

"The Arabs," continued Uncle Samuel, "believe 
that words of prayer addressed to Mohammed, writ- 
ten on a piece of paper and put in a hollow reed 
planted in the middle of a field covered w T ith lo- 
custs, have power to compel them to leave. Some- 
times they take four locusts, and, writing on the 
wings of each a verse of the Koran — the Moham- 



134 B AMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

medan Bible — they let them fly into the midst of the 
swarm, and the destructive army, they say, leaves 
for other parts. I have no doubt, however, that 
the locusts care just as little for the Arabs' prayers 
and the Koran's verses as they do for the curses of 
the popish monk." 

" Why are they called locusts?" asked Mary. 

" If you look into your dictionary, you will find 
that the word locust is made up of two Latin w T ords 
which, put together, mean burnt place" 

" Oh, now I see," said Mary. " It is because the 
ground, after the locusts leave it, is so stripped of 
everything green that it looks as if it had been 
burnt over with fire." 

" That makes me think," said Charlie, " how very 
careful we should always be to do that which is 
honorable and right. The locust gets its name from 
its work. Its work is bad, and its character and 
name are bad also. It is not because it is an ugly 
insect that men hate it. I think it's a noble-look- 
ing little animal, with its large head and great 
wings, and if it only had a good name it would be 
very much admired and its visits would he wel- 
comed. But it has brought itself into disrepute by 
what it does. Its consequent bad name follows it 
wherever it goes. Now, I think we ought to take 
a lesson from the experience of the locust. If we 
do what is wrong when we are young, and persist 
in it, we shall get a bad name, which will follow us 
wherever we go; and sometimes this bad name fixes 



CHARLIE'S SUGGESTIONS. 135 

itself on boys so that they do not get clear of it all 

their lives. 

" There is one of our neighbors who came here 
from a great distance, and although no one knew 
anything about his previous history, and he was at 
first esteemed by everybody, it was not long till 
some one came from the place where he was raised 
and told us that when he was a boy he was known 
to be very stingy, and they called him Stingy Joe, 
and that he was so called when he moved away; 
and now everybody calls him Stingy Joe, and his 
son is called Stingy John and his daughter Stingy 
Jane. How unfortunate it is for him and his chil- 
dren that he was so illiberal when a boy! for, though 
he is as liberal now as other people, he cannot get 
clear of his bad name." 

" I hope you will follow the suggestions of Char- 
lie," said Uncle Samuel, " and remember the lesson 
which the history of the locust teaches. Be true to 
yourselves. Solomon said a long time ago that 
* a good name was rather to be chosen than great 
riches/ Some men do not believe what Solomon 
said, and sacrifice their good name for the sake of 
riches. Do not follow their example. Begin your 
life in the fear of the Lord. Live so as to secure 
his favor, and you will always have the favor and 
love of your fellow-men. Good people will not 
then shun you or seek to banish you from their 
society. Your company will be sought and prized 
by all whose acquaintance is worth having, and you 



136 



RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 



will leave a good name as an inheritance to those 
who shall come after you." 

Just here this long talk about locusts was inter- 
rupted by the sound of the dinner-bell, and soon 
the happy household were discussing matters of 
general interest around a plentiful table. 




CHAPTER X. 

NEST OF MOSS HUMBLE-BEE DISCOVERED THE INSECT 

DESCRIBED FOUR FAMILIES OF HYMENOPTERA 

HOW MANY CLASSES MAKE UP THE HUMBLE-BEES 

HOW THE MOSS HUMBLE-BEE BUILDS ITS CITY 

THE INFANT BEE — ITS PUPAL STATE — DESCRIPTION 
OF THE MOSS HUMBLE-BEE'S HOME — NOT ALW^AYS 
A HAPPY HOME — CURIOUS CUSTOMS OF THESE BEES 

INSTINCT NOT BLIND — WONDERFUL INSTINCT OF 

THE MOSS HUMBLE-BEE AMBITION TO DO RIGHT 

RECOMMENDED. 

THE first day of May had come and gone, the 
tender grass-blades had covered the lawns with 
their clothing of velvet-green, the flowers of spring 
were opening their delicate petals to the sunlight, 
the wild birds were caroling the songs of the last of 
the spring months, and all nature was smiling with 
the life-beauty of the virgin year, when Charlie 
and James and Henry proposed to accompany their 
uncle in one of his insect-rambles in the meadow 
not far from their cheerful home. 

Mary, whose thirst for knowledge was not a whit 
behind that of her brothers, on her own behalf and 
that of her cousin Bertha asked permission to ac- 

137 



138 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

company them. The request was readily granted, 
for all felt that the party would be incomplete with- 
out their sprightly, thoughtful cousin and their in- 
quisitive little sister. 

Uncle Samuel was always glad to have his young 
friends with him when he visited the homes of in- 
sects and studied their domestic habits. It added 
very much to the attractiveness of the walk to wit- 
ness the cheerfulness and eagerness with which they 
searched for rare specimens and captured them. 
Their questions too, often so original and intelli- 
gent, compelled him to be always ready to tell 
them the interesting facts with which the life and 
habits of insects abound. These familiar talks had 
inspired them with intense love for the study of 
insects, and by the training thus obtained their 
minds were rapidly developing. They were learn- 
ing to think and to reflect, and were already almost 
worthy to be called young naturalists. Nor did 
they confine their study to insects, for their uncle 
taught them a great many facts about plants and 
flowers, and also about birds and animals; and 
when they would find a curious stone he would 
tell them its scientific name, how it was formed, 
and the age of the world to which it belonged. 
By communing with Nature they had learned so 
many interesting facts which could not be found 
in their school-books that they were always eager 
to learn the lessons which were taught by the won- 
derful things that God has made. 



A STRANGE REE DISCOVERED. 139 

Thev had not been long in the meadow before 
their attention was called to a large bee with a short, 
robust body, having bands of very bright colors 
around it. It made a humming noise when it flew, 
and its hind legs were armed with two great spurs, 
as if it belonged to the knights of whom we read in 
history. Our young naturalists had never before 
seen such a bee, and they were very anxious to learn 
its name and history ; and especially so because they 
discovered that it had lighted upon a spot in the 
meadow where there was a little hollow made, into 
which it entered and immediately began to increase 
the excavation. In this way it showed that it had 
been at work in that place before, and it was now 
carrying on to completion some plan already 
formed. 

Patient naturalists are always willing to remain 
near an insect and learn from its movements what 
it purposes to do. It is in this way that all our 
knowledge of insect habits and instincts is obtained. 
But our young students could not wait on such a 
long and tedious process to learn what this busy in- 
sect-laborer was doing. Their restless natures would 
not permit them to go to the bee itself for the in- 
formation which they wanted. So, gathering around 
their uncle quietly, lest they might disturb the in- 
dustrious insect, they asked him to tell them its name 
and its history, and why it was working so earnest- 
ly in the ground. 

" Is it going to bury itself," asked little Miss In- 



140 BAUBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

quisitive, " as the great green tomato- worm of which 
you told us does ?" 

" Why, it has wings already, and it is so beauti- 
ful," quickly responded little Thoughtful. " Surely 
it does not need to become a pupa, and then change 
to something else." 

" This very industrious insect introduces you to a 
new order of insects, called Hymenoptera, from two 
Greek words meaning m'embrane-winged. You can 
see how clear the wings of this bee are, and how 
few nervures they have. This peculiarity is com- 
mon to all insects of this order. They have four 
wings, which lie horizontally upon the body when 
not in use. Their mouth is provided with jaws 
and lips adapted for suction. 

" In this order we find the most industrious and 
intelligent insects. They build their houses with 
great skill, using them as nurseries and as store- 
houses for their provisions. They are very careful 
of their young and watch over them with true ma- 
ternal affection. Many of them form republics or 
monarchies of their own, and govern them with 
laws that are rigidly enforced. 

" Its four most remarkable families are the bees, 
the wasps, the ants and the gall-insects. The in- 
sect that is working so diligently before us belongs 
to the family of bees, called Apidce by scientific 
men. There are several kinds of bees. The kind 
or genus to which this bee belongs is the humble- 
bee. 



ITS SAME AND HISTORY. 141 

" It is commonly called a bumble-bee. The com- 
mon name of every species of humble-bees is 6om- 
bus — a Latin word meaning humming or buzzing, 
and descriptive of the peculiar sound of its wings 
when flying. This bee is known as the moss hum- 
ble-bee, or the carc/er-bee, and its scientific name is 
Bombus musGorum — the latter word meaning moss. 
You observe that it is not as large as the common 
humble-bee, but rather shorter and thicker than the 
hive-bee. It is now engaged in preparing the foun- 
dation of a house for itself and family. 

" In the community of humble-bees there are 
three classes — males, females and workers. During 
the long winter all the males and the workers die, 
and the females alone survive. These pass the winter 
under ground, in apartments separate from the nest, 
and which each one fits up for herself with a warm 
carpeting of moss and grass. In the early spring, 
when the sun warms their winter retreat, they make 
their appearance to lay the foundations of new colo- 
nies and to build up new communities of the bom- 
bus family. In this enterprise each bee works for 
herself, and elects herself the queen of the new city 
which she means to build and people with a small 
but busy multitude. 

"This bee is just now laying the foundations of 
an empire which is to be indebted to her alone for 
its existence. Her little city when completed will 
not exceed six or eight inches in diameter. Its 
dwellings are to be rudelv built, and its streets to 



142 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

be arranged without regard to order or refined taste. 
Its inhabitants may not exceed twenty, while they 
may number two or three hundred. 

" When the mother-bee has completed her exca- 
vation, and advanced far enough with her work to 
afford protection to her offspring, she constructs a 
few cells, and puts in them a paste made of pollen 
and honey. She then lays six or seven eggs in 
each, and closes them in. The little grubs that 
come from the eggs live together peaceably, as 
brothers should, eating at the same table and sleep- 
ing in the same chamber. At first the cell is only 
the size of a pea, which in a short time becomes too 
small to contain the rapidly growing grubs, and 
splits in several places. The mother-bee, however, 
soon repairs the walls of her cells by filling the 
cracks with wax. In this way these infant homes 
are made to increase in size, so as to give sufficient 
room to the growing inmates. 

" When the little worm, the baby-bee, is ready 
to pass into the pupa state, it ceases to eat, and spins 
for itself a cocoon of very fine white silk. Inside 
of this soft shroud of silk it remains about fifteen 
days, during which all those wonderful changes are 
going on that prepare the bee for the great work of 
its life. When it is ready to appear in its winged 
state it finds itself unable to work its way out of 
its silken case. It has shut itself up, and it must 
now perish unless it is helped by its mother or 
brother bees. Their instinct comes to its relief. 



THE BUILDING OF THEIR CITY. 143 

In some wonderful way — perhaps by a significant 
motion or noise made by the helpless inmate of the 
cell — they know the precise time when the perfect 
insect is developed, and they gnaw off the covering 
as ants do in the same circumstances, and the re- 
leased prisoner leaves the dark abode of its early 
life to enjoy the pleasures of its citizen life in the 
rising city. 

" The first bees thus added to the community are 
workers, and they immediately employ themselves 
in building new cells and in raising and fortifying 
the Avails of the bee-city. These walls are built of 
wax, and, like a rampart, rise up at all parts of the 
circumference. The whole is covered with a dome 
of moss, or of withered grass if moss cannot be 
had, closely packed or woven together and lined 
with wax. The entrance is in the lower part, and 
leads through a gallery or covered way about a foot 
long and half an inch in diameter." 

During all this time our young philosophers 
were observing closely the operations of the bee, 
and listening with intense interest to their uncle's 
story. At length, Henry, whose imagination had 
been quickened by his uncle's description of the 
humble-bee's nest, said, 

" How beautiful their little city must be, with its 
wax walls and wax houses, its covered halls and its 
streets ! Wouldn't it be nice if we could visit them 
and see how they all live in their moss-covered 
city?" 



144 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

"You forget," said Uncle Samuel, "that I told 
you that their houses were not built with very much 
taste, and that their streets were very irregular. 
These bees are not so refined and neat in their 
style of living as their cousins, the hive-bee and 
the wasp. 

" As I have some drawing-paper with me, I will 
gratify your curiosity -by drawing a few pictures 
representing their nest. I will first make a draw- 
ing of the cells as they appear inside of the nest. 
(Fig. 40.) 




Fig. 40.— Cells from a Moss Humble-bee's Nest. 

" These are their breeding-cells. The wax of 
w 7 hich they are made is brown-colored, and the cells 
are placed without much regard to order, and in 
shape they are somewhat flat and gobular. 

"And now I will give you a representation of 
the entire structure, with the opening of its covered 
entrance into the interior (Fig. 41), and of the bees 



THEIR COVERED CITY. 



145 



When they are carding or matting the moss for use. 
(Fig. 42.) 

"If you could examine the interior of one of 
these wonderful homes, you would see in all the 
corners and in the middle of the combs a number 
of vessels shaped like a goblet filled with honey 
and pollen. These vessels are the empty cocoons 
left by the larvae, and the honey and pollen stored 




Fig, 41.— Moss Humble-Bee's Nest. 

in them are the provisions which the bees have laid 
up to supply their daily wants. They display wise 
economy in thus making use of the cocoons, which 
would otherwise have been so much rubbish in 
their way." 

" What a happy time they must have !" said Ber- 
tha. " Wouldn't it be nice to be a moss humble-bee, 

10 



146 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

and live in such a cozy nest and eat honey all the 
time?" 

" They do not always live so very happily/' an- 
swered her uncle. " The workers are very fond of 
the eggs laid by the mother-bee. If not prevented, 




Fig. 42.— Moss Humble-Bees carding Moss. 

they drag them from the cells and devour them; 
so the mother is compelled to defend her eggs, and 
many a conflict takes place between her and the 
workers; but by constant watchfulness and some 
vigorous fighting she generally succeeds in driving 
off the thieving bees. There is a number of fe- 
males which lay eggs of workers only. Of this 
class the queen-mother is very jealous, and she 
often drives them away from their cells and eats 
their eggs. So you see that selfishness reigns in 
this little community, disturbing its peace just as 
it disturbs the peace among men, who are in this 
respect no better than insects. 

" But you must not think that the workers are 
always trying to destroy the eggs. They are only 



THEIR WONDERFUL INSTINCT. 147 

fond of fresh eggs ; and if the mother keeps them 
off for a short time, they lose their taste for them 
and take their part in rearing the young grub, and 
are as affectionate and careful as the mother. 

" When the temperature of the nest is too low for 
the hatching of the eggs, the males and females sit 
upon them just like a hen, and thus increase the 
warmth of the eggs. If in any way the comb be- 
comes displaced so as not to stand firmly when the 
bees are sitting on the eggs, two or three other bees 
will get on the edge of it, stretch themselves over 
it, and with their heads downward fix their fore 
feet on the ground, and with their hind feet keep 
the comb from falling. In this way they will con- 
tinue to hold firmly the tottering comb till pillars 
of wax, built by other bees, are put under it to sup- 
port it." 

" How do the bees know so well just how to prop 
up a tottering comb, if they act only by blind in- 
stinct?" asked Charlie, who always wanted a true 
philosophical reason for everything. 

" They do not act as mere machines when they 
deliberate and plan in such a manner. The instinct 
of insects is not always blind. It gives as clear ev- 
idence of being guided by reason in some cases as 
the mind of man does; and this fact should increase 
our admiration of the wisdom and beneficence of 
God manifested in their intelligent actions." 

"I have been wondering," said Bertha, a how 
they gather the moss and mat it together and put it 



148 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

on the roof of their house. I think they must have 
a good deal of knowledge to find the moss and weave 
it together close so as to make such a nice roof." 

" This is one of the most curious facts in their 
wonderful history. One would suppose that each 
bee would cut oif with its mandibles a single blade 
of moss or of withered grass, and then fly to the 
nest and lay it in its place, as the dauber-wasp car- 
ries each pellet of mud and puts it in its place in 
its cell ; but it does not. When the mother-bee is 
alone, as is usually the case in the spring, she pushes 
little bundles of moss or grass along the ground, 
walking backward, till she gets them to her newly- 
built home. After other bees are hatched out, a 
number of the workers go out moss-gathering to- 
gether, and arrange themselves in a line reaching 
from the nest to the moss-bed, the head of each one 
being turned away from the nest and toward the 
moss. When they are prepared to say i All ready !' 
the first bee in the line lays hold of some of the 
moss, and having carded it with her fore legs into 
a sort of felt, she pushes it under her body and 
throws it with a kick to the next bee, and she 
passes it in the same way to the next, and so on 
till it reaches the nest. When the materials are all 
collected, the workers proceed to manufacture the 
cover that rests like a dome on the nest. When 
completed its height is from four to six inches 
above the level of the ground. Underneath the 
moss or grass the vault is ceiled with coarse wax 



WHAT CHARLIE THINKS. 149 

to keep out the rain and to protect it from high 
winds. You have here an opportunity of making 
observations for yourselves on the habits and in- 
stincts of this interesting member of the bee family 
which I hope you will not neglect. It will repay 
you well to visit this growing city frequently and 
note its progress; and you will be able to verify 
what I have told you, and you may perhaps be re- 
warded by the discovery of some facts heretofore 
unknown about the domestic habits of these indus- 
trious insects." 

" Wouldn't that be nice?" said the impulsive 
Mary, who seemed to be feeling already the joy 
of some actual discovery. 

° I have just been thinking," said Charlie, "what 
a capital teacher this humble-bee is. Even if it is 
humble we ought to listen to it. It doesn't speak 
in words, but it does in acts. You see it is am- 
bitious to do some good thing while it lives ; and 
although it has no one to encourage it or help it, 
it works earnestly and cheerfully. Everything it 
does helps it to gain the object of its ambition. 
Doesn't that teach us that ambition to do right 
and to do good ought to make us work earnest- 
ly and cheerfully ? Ought we not to resolve to ac- 
complish something great and good while we live, 
and then live for that end ? If we do so, we shall 
be as likely to succeed as the humble-bee. I shall 
come here often, just to learn from this chubby in- 
sect how I ou^ht to live." 



150 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

'■ You are quite a philosopher," said Uncle Sam- 
uel. " I hope you will carry out your purposes ; 
and if this morning's ramble inspires you all with 
better and nobler views of life, I shall not regret 
the time I have spent in telling you the story of the 
moss humble-bee." 

" And I shall never see a humble-bee without re- 
membering the lesson of this pleasant May day," 
said Mary. 



CHAPTER XL 

NEST OF THE ANDRENA VICINA — WORK OF THE 
MOTHER-BEE — ITS DESCRIPTION — HOW THE YOUNG 
ARE PROVIDED WITH FOOD — HOME OF THE 
TAPESTRY-BEE— ITS COURT DRESS — HOW THE 
NEST IS LINED WITH POPPY-FLOWERS — HOW 

THE MOTHER GATHERS POLLEN FOR HER YOUNG 

AN ATTRACTIVE PICTURE — MEGACHILE CENTUNCU- 

LARIS ITS WONDERFUL HISTORY ITS CURIOUS 

HOUSE — CHARLIE FEELS ASHAMED OF HIMSELF 

HE WILL BE MORE PERSEVERING HEREAFTER 

— MECHANICS AMONG INSECTS DEMAND OUR RE- 
SPECT — THEY ARE TAUGHT BY THE ALL- WISE. 

A FEW days after the meadow ramble which we 
have just described, Bertha and Mary visited 
the nest of the moss humble-bee to observe what 
progress the mother-bee had been making in the 
mean time. They found her moving rapidly from 
place to place, never idling a single moment, and 
that she had already commenced making her wax 
cells. They became so much interested in her cun- 
ning devices that they were unconscious of the ra- 
pidity with which time was passing. At length, 

151 



152 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

fearing lest their long absence might excite alarm, 
they started to the house. A short distance from 
the humble-bee nest Mary observed a small mound 
of fresh earth which seemed to be the work of some 
insect. This immediately attracted their attention. 
Just at the top of the mound they found an opening 
about the diameter of a pipe-stem. While gazing 
into the opening with lively curiosity, and wonder- 
ing w T hat insect could have built such a mound, and 
where it got the little fine pellets of black earth of 
which it was composed, a bee about one-third of an 
inch long flew out of the opening. They speedily 
withdrew to a distance, for they knew not how many 
would follow after, nor how dangerous they were. 

" Let's call uncle/' said Mary ; "I am sure he 
never saw such a nest as that." 

" I'll run and tell him and Cousin Charlie, and 
all of them/' said Bertha. "Do you stay close by 
and see that the bee doesn't go away." 

Bertha fulfilled her self-appointed mission with 
great promptness, and in a very short time returned, 
accompanied by Uncle Samuel and her cousins. 
Uncle Samuel, imagining what kind of a nest his 
little nieces had found, took his portfolio along with 
him, that he might be prepared to illustrate the 
home of the insect without the trouble of making 
drawings as on the former occasion. 

Mary had ventured again very close to the little 
mound, and as her uncle approached she pointed to 
it and said, 



ANDBENA VICINA. 153 

"Just look, uncle ! Did you ever see a nest like 
that ? I am sure the bee must have just ever so nice 
and ever so many little chambers in its house for 
the baby-bees to grow in." 

u Yes, indeed I have, Mary; and I am so glad I 
can tell you all about the history of this bee, and 
show you a picture of the nest, or of one built by 
a bee just like it!" 

A very pleasant group soon found their positions 
on the grass close by the mound which was now 
the centre of interest. A more earnest teacher 
and more interested and attentive pupils could no- 
where be found. Uncle Samuel was resting upon 
his right elbow, while his nephews and nieces formed 
a semicircle before him : 

" The builder of this little mound belongs to a 
group of bees called mining-bees. Their scientific 
family name is Andrenidce. They are ordinarily no 
larger than a house-fly. Some species of this group 
make their nest in very hard ground. This bee 
belongs to the species called Andrena vieina, and 
chooses grassy fields for the place of its nest. 

" When the mother-bee wants to prepare a home 
for her offspring she makes a circular and deep hole 
in the ground a little wider than the diameter of 
her body, so that she can move down and up at 
pleasure. This burrow is sunk perpendicularly, with 
short passages leading to the cells, which are slight- 
ly inclined downward and outward from the main 
passage. Here is a cut (Fig. 43) which will convey 



154 



RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 



the idea to your minds better than any description. 

The whole labor of 
digging the nest and 
providing food for the 
young is performed by 
the mother-bee. The 
males of the solitary 
bees are idle, and the 
females are unprovided 
with laborers, such as 
the moss humble-bee 
or the hive-bee has. 

" The walls of the 
main passage — which 
might be called the 
long hall — are rough. 
The bee does not be- 
lieve in outside show, 
as a great many people 
do, but she is careful 
to fit up very nicely 
the little chambers she 
e has prepared for her 
young. They are made 
with smooth walls, and 
are lined with a varnish 
that, on hardening, 
looks like the glazing 
on earthenware. The 
depth of the long hall 










Fig. 43— Nest of the Mining- 
Bee. 



ITS WONDERFUL SEST. 155 

is usually from four to eight inches. Some species 
make their burrows ten inches deep." 

" That is a very deep burrow for so small an in- 
sect," said Charlie. " If the bee is only one-third 
of an inch long, then it digs a great tunnel perpen- 
dicularly thirty times as long as itself. If a man 
six feet high would dig such a tunnel, thirty times 
deeper than he is tall, it would make a well one 
hundred and eighty feet deep." 

" Your calculation is correct, and it proves that 
insects have greater physical strength and greater 
skill for execution than man, for man could hardly 
accomplish the digging of a tunnel so many times 
longer than himself without aid, while the mother- 
bee does it all herself. 

u As soon as a cell is made ready for its inhabit- 
ant, and is supplied with pollen for the food of the 
larva, the mother deposits her egg and closes it up. 
She then proceeds with her work until she has made 
from five to eight cells. The most recent cell is, 
therefore, the one deepest down. In this picture 
(Fig. 43) the cell a contains a pupa; b, I and e 
contain larvae in different stages of growth ; / con- 
tains freshly-deposited pollen ; and o is the begin- 
ning of a cell. At g is represented the level of 
the ground. 

" The earth which makes the mound was scooped 
out by the bee while digging its gallery and cells. 
When the grub is hatched in its cell this earth is 



156 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

sometimes used to close up the passage to prevent 
the entrance of ants or other enemies." 

u When going to school a few days ago," said 
Henry, " I saw a little opening in the ground like 
this one close to where I was walking. As there 
were no heaps of earth near the holes, I presume 
the bee had carried it all away, piece by piece, when 
she dug out the tunnel. I have seen the bee, and 
it does not belong to the same species with this bee, 
for it does not look like it." 

" I remember the spot to which you refer. That 
bee belongs to the class of upholsterer-bees, and is 
another of the bee-mechanics, of which there are 
many. The common name of that bee is the ta- 
pestry -bee, or the poppy -bee, so called from its se- 
lecting the scarlet petals of the poppy as tapestry 
for its cells. But it has also a scientific name ; for 
all the busy inhabitants of the insect-world, when 
they appear in the presence of the royal princes of 
science, who profess to be very learned, must be 
clothed in an appropriate court-dress, otherwise 
they are not recognized ; so when our plain, every- 
day poppy-bee appears in the reception-room of the 
entomologist, it is introduced as Anthocopa papav- 
eris. The first of these words means flower-cutters, 
and the second means poppy. 

"The mother-bee digs a burrow in the ground 
about three inches deep, making it wider at the bot- 
tom than at the top, so that it resembles somewhat 
the shape of a common flask with a long neck. 



THE POPPY-BEE'S NEST. 157 

The interior of this cell she polishes sufficiently to 
receive the gorgeous tapestry with which its walls 
are to be hung. It is no mean, unadorned cham- 
ber in which her offspring shall spend its early 
days. The mother has not only an eye to the com- 
fort, but also to the beauty, of her nursery, and 
while its larder is supplied with the richest food, 
its walls are ornamented with tapestry of Nature's 
finest weaving. 

" The walls being made ready, the skillful little 
worker goes forth in search of the scarlet poppy, 
and, resting upon the opening flower-leaves, cuts 
off a small piece of an oval shape, seizes it between 
her legs and conveys it to her nest. Entering, she 
descends to the bottom and neatly and tastefully 
spreads her carpet. This operation she repeats 
until the bottom is overlaid with three or four 
leaves. Having thus made the floor of her cham- 
ber soft and comfortable for its intended occupant, 
she hangs her tapestry on the walls, extending it 
even beyond the opening. If she happens to bring 
to her nest a piece of poppy-leaf too large for the 
place for which it was designed, she cuts off what 
is not needed and carries off the scraps." 

" She must have very sharp mandibles," said 
Charlie, " when she can cut the petals of a poppv- 
flower, for I tried to cut some rose-petals yesterday 
with mother's sharp scissors, and I couldn't do it." 

"Her scissors are always very sharp and she is 
very skillful in using them, so that she cuts them 



158 



RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 



without a wrinkle, and spreads them on the walls 
of her house as smoothly as the most perfect paper- 
hanger. 

" The little chamber being ready for occupancy, 
the kind mother goes forth again among the flowers 
to gather pollen and honey, which she mixes in 
proper proportions, and deposits within it as food 
for her offspring. When she has filled the cham- 
ber to the height of half an inch she lays an egg, 
and over it folds down the tapestry of poppy-petals 
from above. I have here a drawing which will 
introduce you to the interior of the poppy-bee's 
nest. (Fig. 44.) 




Fig. 44. 
1. The cell before the egg is deposited within ; 2. The red poppy- 
lining depressed. 

"In this cell the little tapestry-bee spends its 
early days, and undergoes those wonderful changes 
of form by which it becomes winged, and fitted by 
its new tastes and new organs to dwell in a world 
of light and enjoy a life of greater and more exalted 



ITS HIGHER LIFE. 159 

freedom ; and when it leaves its pupa-case, having 
no longer any love for its narrow prison with its 
walls of faded tapestry, it is moved by higher aspi- 
rations to find its way out of its enclosure and up- 
ward to the new life and brighter glories beyond. 

"I must pause just here to say that this larva, 
feeding upon its pollen food in its tapestried cham- 
ber, is like man. The world is beautifully hung 
with the richest tapestry, and it is abundantly sup- 
plied with food suited to his earthly taste; but like 
the narrow home of the larva, it is dark and prison- 
like, and is not his abiding-place. Man, like the 
crawling larva, has a higher nature that cannot live 
on earth's richest provision — a nature that longs for 
a higher and better life. So when his food is all 
consumed and his earth-life draws to a close, the 
tapestry of his earth-home will fade, and his nobler 
nature will rise to bask in the sunlight of a brighter 
and happier world, to feast on daintier food and to 
move on untiring wing and for ever amid the beau- 
ties and glories of heaven's fields of light and life. 

" But sometimes the ichneumon-fly lays its eggs 
in the nest of the tapestry-bee, and then its offspring 
never rises to enjoy the raptures of a new life ; 
neither will you ever enter that better world, nor 
enjoy the higher life in glory, if you permit your 
greatest enemy, sin, to consume the life of your 
soul." 

At this stage of the conversation Bertha's atten- 
tion was attracted by a picture that had fallen out 



160 



RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 



of her uncle's portfolio, and was borne by the wind 
to where she was sitting. Picking it up, she said, 

"Look, uncle, what picture is this? It fell out 
of your portfolio. Here are two bees eating leaves, 
and another flying to the branch." (Fig. 45.) 




Fig. 45. — Rose Megachile {Megachile cenluncularis) 

" That represents another one of the solitary bees, 
belonging to the leaf-cutters. Its family name is 
Ifegachile, and its specific name is oentuncularis. 
Its name is much larger than itself. Its habits are 
very curious. It is said that a French gardener, 



THE WILLOW-BEE. 161 

finding some of the nests of this insect in his gar- 
den, and believing that some witch had made them, 
sent them to his master to know what he should do 
to keep away the witches. His master showed them 
to some learned men, and soon discovered that an 
insect had built them, and so the fears of the gar- 
dener were dispelled. 

" Let us imagine ourselves looking in upon the 
mother-bee while she is engaged in preparing and 
constructing her nest. She has chosen the limb of 
a decaying willow tree, and bores a hole in it hori- 
zontally. She prefers this tree when she can get it, 
and for this reason she is sometimes called the wil- 
low-bee. When she can do no better she makes her 
nest in a beaten pathway, and sometimes in the cav- 
ities of walls. When our bee has bored a hole in 
the wood for seven or ten inches, she goes forth to 
collect materials for the structure of her cells, and 
generally chooses the leaf of the rose-bush. On 
this account she is often called the rose-leaf cutter, 
or rose-cutter bee* 

" The process of cutting out the pieces of the leaf 
that are to form the walls of her cells is very curi- 
ous. How expeditious she is ! She has no time to 
lose. Hovering over the rose-bush for an instant, 
as if reconnoitring the grounds, she alights upon a 
leaf, taking her station upon the edge, so that the 
margin passes between her legs. With her mandi- 
bles, keen and sharp, she cuts out a circular piece 

* This is a European species. 
11 



162 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

with more neatness and despatch than any one of 
you could do with a pair of new scissors. Just be- 
fore she cuts the last fibre she balances herself on 
her wings and bears off in triumph the separated 
piece as soon as it parts from the leaf. Holding it 
in a bent position, perpendicularly to her body, she 
enters her nest and ingeniously applies it to the in- 
terior without paste or glue, knowing that the elas- 
ticity of the leaf will hold it to its place. 

" The interior surface of each cell consists of sev- 
eral layers of leaf made narrow at one end, but 
gradually widening toward the other, till the width 
equals half the length. The several pieces of leaf 
are so laid that the serrated, or sawlike, margin of 
each is on the outside, as you see in the picture. 

" It requires from three to five layers of leaf to 
make up the walls of each cell. In making each 
coating the bee is careful to lay the middle of each 
leaf over the margins of those already laid, so as to in- 
crease the strength of the wall. She is also careful 
to give the closed end of the cell a convex shape. 

" When she has completed a cell she flies away 
to some cluster of thistles, that she may gather 
pollen from their flowers out of which to manufac- 
ture a rose-colored paste as food for her offspring. 
This she deposits in the cell in sufficient quantity, 
and then lays her egg, and closes all by fitting three 
pieces of leaf exactly circular, and which are cut 
out by the insect with unfailing accuracy, at a dis- 
tance from the cell, and of the exact dimensions. 



CHARLIE'S THOUGHTS. 1G3 

u In this manner she proceeds to construct cell 
after cell, the lower end of the one fitting into the 
open end of the next below it. This industrious 
little insect is not easily discouraged, for if by any 
accident her labor is interrupted or her edifice de- 
ranged, she loses no time and spares no pains in 
putting all things to rights again. 

" Before changing into the pupa state the worm 
or larva spins a slight silken cocoon about the walls 
of its dark chamber, and thus fits it up for the scene 
of its last and most interesting change." 

During all this conversation Charlie was very 
attentive and thoughtful. It seemed now to be 
his time to speak, and, straightening himself up, 
he said, 

"Your history of these very interesting insects 
has made me feel ashamed of myself. I think of 
how many times I have given up trying to study 
out a difficult passage in Latin or Greek just be- 
cause I could not understand its construction at 
once. I lack patient perseverance in toiling. The 
little mining-bee carries pellet by pellet up the sides 
of its burrow till it has dug for its young a nest 
thirty times as long as itself. The other bees you 
have told us of only accomplish their work by per- 
severance. Only a little at a time can any of them 
do, but they are always busy, persevering and de- 
termined. Ought we not to learn from these in- 
dustrious insects to be persevering in doing what- 
ever we have to do? Their motto seems to be, 



164 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

6 Never give up !' That shall be my motto too. 
I will not let a little bee be more noble and perse- 
vering than I am. The willow-bee, that despairs 
not though accidents destroy her work, calls to my 
mind that little poem of Tupper I learned out of 
my school Reader, the last verse of which is — 

' " Never give up !" if adversity presses : 

Providence wisely has mingled the cup; 
And the best counsel in all our distresses 

Is the stout watchword of "Never give up !" ' " 

" There is another lesson/' said Uncle Samuel, 
"that you must not fail to learn from these facts, 
and that is the skill and ingenuity of these little 
operatives. Surely the mechanics among insects 
are not to be despised because they are diminutive 
creatures. The poppy-bee and the rose-leaf cutter 
carry no plumb-line, compasses or square, and yet 
with unerring accuracy they cut the materials with 
which they construct their dwellings, without mak- 
ing a single mistake, just as the stones of Solomon's 
temple were fitted to their respective places before 
they were put upon the wall. Is there not in all 
this a power manifested that excels human reason 
and art ? This wise calculating forethought cannot 
be the offspring of blind, undesigning chance. It 
is the Almighty's teaching. He it is that has so 
admirably proportioned the insect's knowledge and 
skill to her necessities. c Let everything that hath 
breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord.' " 



CHAPTER XII. 

A MUD NEST FOUND— IT IS TAKEN TO UNCLE SAMUEL, 
AND FOUND TO BE THE NEST OF THE DAUBER- 
WASP — THE BLACK AVASP — AGENIA BOMBYCINA — ■ 
DAUBER-WASP — HOW THE MOTHER-WASP BUILDS 
HER NEST — INSIDE VIEW OF CELLS — WONDERFUL 
TRANSFORMATION — WHY THE WORM IS WITHOUT 
EYES — INTELLIGENCE OF THE MOTHER-BEE — THIS 
INSECT TEACHES PERSEVERANCE AND TRUST IN 
GOD. 

THE next day after the conversation which made 
the subject of the last chapter Henry and 
James were in the loft of the carriage-house, when 
James observed near to the lower end of one of the 
rafters some patches of mud of a light-yellow color. 
They had learned to suspect insects of being the 
architects of every strange little structure with 
which they met. So no sooner had James made 
the discovery than he called to Henry : 

" Harry, come, I have found a nest of some in- 
sect. Look at these little patches of mud. See 
how carefully they are built up. I'll warrant some 
insect that has wings has put them there, for how 
else could mud get up here?" 

"Give me your knife, James, and I will try to 

165 



166 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

loosen them from the rafter, and we will take them 
to uncle. He will tell us all about them/' said 
Henry. 

By care they separated one, and agreed, although 
it was a small one, not to try any more until Uncle 
Samuel should see it and tell them how it got there. 
They soon found their way to his study, and laid 
their prize on his table. 

"Ah !" said Uncle Samuel, "you have been rob- 
bing' some insect of its home. What cruel boys you 
are ! How would you like it if some strong being, 
ever so many times larger and stronger than man, 
should carry off this house and all that are in it 
away to some very large room, just to have it pulled 
to pieces to find out what it contained ? Wouldn't 
you think it very cruel ?" 

" I think it would be very cruel to treat us so. 
But then insects are not our neighbors, and we are 
not required to love them as we do ourselves/' 
said James. 

" Uncle," asked Henry, " have you forgotten a 
verse in the Psalm you read this morning ? I re- 
member it : it is, { The works of the Lord are great, 
sought out of all them that have pleasure therein.' 
Now, this little house is part of God's works, and 
we have pleasure in seeking out the wisdom and 
skill he has given to the little insect that has built 
it. That is the reason why we have brought it to 
you, because we think you will tell us all about it. 
Then, perhaps, there is no insect in it. It may be 



A WONDERFUL NEST. 167 

an abandoned house. But you know we can't 
argue with you, and you are just trying us, that's 
all" 

By this time the other children, seeing James and 
Henry running to their uncle's room, had gathered 
in, for they thought that something new must have 
been found, and they did not wish to lose any of 
their uncle's stories about insects. 

" You reason very well," said Uncle Samuel, a for 
young philosophers, and perhaps I shall not suc- 
ceed in making you repent of wrong-doing in carry- 
ing off this insect-home ; so I will proceed to give 
you some account of the little architect w T hose skill 
is displayed in this rough-looking structure. But 
first let us open the cells which this home contains. 
There, I have cut into one and find a worm three- 
fifths of an inch long, surrounded with a dark-brown 
silken covering closed perfectly on all sides. It 
seems to be awaiting some future destiny, and is 
quietly and calmly resting in its solitary home till 
its change comes. But we have destroyed its habi- 
tation and dislodged it from its bed, and its future 
prospects, whatever they may have been, must be 
unrealized. Now let us open another." 

"Oh, just look!" said the astonished Mary. 
" What a nest of spiders ! And pretty ones too ! 
Is it a spider's nest ? Let me count them. One, two, 
three, fifteen ! The dear little things ! Isn't it a 
pity to disturb them !" 

" I see a little white worm," said Bertha — " oh ! 



168 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

ever so little ! I should think it would be afraid to 
be shut up there all by itself, with so many spiders 
bigger than it is ; I should. I do wonder how it 
got there, and how the spiders shut themselves in ? 
If I were a spider I wouldn't like to be shut up 
and packed into such a little dark room. I wonder 
what so many of them do there, anyhow ?" 

The contents of the little cell were a mystery to 
all the children. Even Charlie acknowledged him- 
self puzzled unless the little worm fed on the spi- 
ders ; but this he thought could hardly be, because 
it was too small to eat so many, being only about 
one-sixteenth of an inch long. When they had 
exhausted all possible conjectures without satisfy- 
ing themselves, Uncle Samuel said, 

"This is the work of the dauber- wasp — a soli- 
tary wasp whose instinct in constructing its hab- 
itation and providing for its offspring has always 
excited the admiration of the naturalist. It be- 
longs, like the bee, to the Hymenoptera, and its 
scientific name is Pelopoeus lunatus. The English 
of the generic name is ' mud-maker] and the specific 
name means 'mooned.' 

"Here is a picture of a wasp that sometimes 
lays its eggs in the dauber's nest. It is called the 
black wasp (Trypoxylon albitarse). (Fig. 46.) I have 
here also sketches of 'mud cells' drawn from nature 
and made by four distinct species of a genus or kind 
of mud-daubers called Agenia, which means ' with- 
out (illustrious) birth.' Alongside of the mud cell 



THE DAUBER-WASP. 



169 




(d) there is a picture of the wasp that constructs it. 
It is called Agenia bombycina. (Fig. 48, 6.) 

" I have here a 
picture of a grand 
wasp, which I must 
show you. (Fig. 49, 
p. 171.) It is called 
by Say Stizus gran- 
diSy or the gigantic 
digger-wasp. It is a 

native of Pennsyl- Flg ' ^.—Trypoxylon albitarse. 

vania, and is called the digger-wasp because it 
burrows in the ground, and in the burrow lays its 
egg, and then deposits locusts in it for the larva to 
feed upon. 

" Here are sketches, drawn from Nature, of the 
' mud-cells 9 built by three distinct species of the 

Agenia. They rep- 
resent the natural 
size of these remark- 
able nests, and, as 
you see, their parts 
are connected to- 

Flg. 47.— Mud-celled Nests of the o- e ther like a string* 
Agenia Wasps. ^ ° 

of flattened beads. 
The smallest cell (c) is built by a very small wasp 
(Agenia subcorticalis), so called because it constructs 
its little home always under the loose bark of stand- 
ing trees. The middle cell (6) is the work of a 
larger wasp (Agenia. architectus), and it is found 




170 



RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 



sometimes under logs and stones, and sometimes un- 
der the loose bark of trees. The cell (a) is construct- 
ed by the Agenia mellipeSj and is found exclusively 
under the bark of standing trees. 

"All these wasps build and provision their nests 
alike, so that what I tell you of the instinct and 
habits of the common dauber-wasp will do almost 
equally well for the Agenia. The form of the 
Pelopceus lunatus is peculiar, as it has a very 
small abdomen, separated from its thorax by a 




Fig. 48.— -Agenia bombycina. (a) Its nest. 

long foot-stalk, sometimes bright yellow and some- 
times black. The upper joints of the legs are 
black and the lower joints are bright yellow. It 
has two antennae, which it rolls up spirally ; their 
color near the head is yellow, but black throughout 
the rest of their extent. Its wings are a dark brown, 
terminating in a bright maroon. Its thorax (or 
chest) and abdomen are of a deep brown -black, 
softened by thick downy hair on the thorax. 



NEST OF THE DAUBER-WASP. 171 

"The mother-wasp, when ready to build her nest, 
seeks some sheltered spot in which it may be pro- 
tected from the rain ; hence her cells are usually 
formed upon rafters or in the upper corners of 
windows in rooms but little used. She then goes 
forth in search of clay suited to her purpose. This 
she moistens with cement of her own manufacture, 
adding particle to particle until her load is often- 
times larger than her head. Taking it up with her 
jaws, she flies away to the chosen spot and deposits 
it in its proper place, laying the foundation of her 




Fig. 49.— The Gigantic Digger- Wasp (Stizus grandis, Say). 

future home. Load after load she carries, prepared 
in the same way, and shapes it so as to adapt it 
to the place she intends it to occupy. The cement 
keeps the clay soft and pliable, so that she can mould 
it as she pleases, and when it dries the clay is almost 
as hard as a stone. In building the cell she is care- 



172 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

fill to preserve its cylindrical form and to make the 
sides even and smooth. 

"When she has completed the first cell the 
mother-wasp goes forth to seek food for her off- 
spring. It is not among the flowers she goes, as 
the bees did about which we talked yesterday. 
The little baby- wasps would starve if born among 
the pellets of sweetened pollen. She goes among 
the spiders, and, carrying them off one after an- 
other, she places them in the cell until it is filled. 
As soon as she captures a spider she stings it so as 
to render it helpless, but not to kill it. She then 
takes one of her fore legs in her mouth, and, em- 
bracing the body with her fore and middle legs, she 
carries it off in triumph. When the cell is filled 
she closes it with mud. 

" Another cell is built in the same way, parallel 
with the first, then another and another, until she 
has made all the cells she has designed to make. 
These she covers over with clay or sand, so as to 
make them still more secure against the attacks 
of insect-enemies that seek the life of the helpless 
inmates of the cells. 

" As the cells are not all made and occupied at 
the same time, the grub which inhabits the oldest 
cell will come to maturity first ; so that in a nest 
made up of several cells the insects will present at 
any one time different stages of growth. I have 
here a picture taken from a photograph of a nest 
which I took from a rafter in an unoccupied garret. 




WONDERFUL TRANSFORMATION. 173 

In removing this nest the lower cell was broken off, 
so that only a portion of its walls is represented in 
the cut. (Fig. 50, g.) The upper cell, a, is the oldest, 
and when the photograph 
was taken, the thorax and 
abdomen were black, and 
the eyes were perfect, pj 
The middle wasp, 6, was 
yellow in all its parts, 
and the eyes were not 
fully developed. The 
lower one, c, had just 
changed from its worm 
shape, so as to exhibit ** ».-Wasf-Gbubs or Cells. 
the long peduncle between the thorax and abdomen ; 
the legs and eves were wanting. There are two 
openings (e and /) shown on the side of the picture, 
which belong to other cells lying back of those re- 
presented. 

" AVhen this nest was removed, I took away a 
portion of the cells and the silken cocoon which 
enveloped the insect, so that I might observe any 
change that might take place. The lower wasp 
was then a worm without eves, and terminating in 

*/ 7 O 

a sharp point at each end. For some time I exam- 
ined them daily, but noticed no change in the worm. 
At length the time of transformation came. And 
how remarkable it was ! The grub which I had 
seen but a few hours ago legless, headless, eyeless, 
now presented to me abdomen, peduncle, thorax, 



174 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS, 

head and the beginning of eyes and legs. How 
changed ! Can it be, thought I, that this is the 
worm I so lately looked upon ?" 

" I suppose/'- said Charlie, " God did not give 
the little worm any eyes or legs, because it couldn't 
use them in its dark narrow cell, where all its food 
was provided and it had nothing to do but to eat." 

" You are right in your conjecture, Charlie. In 
each stage of the wasp's life it is abundantly pro- 
vided for; it lacks nothing when a grub, and it 
would be as useless to give it eyes then as wings. 
When it acquires all the parts it needs to fit it for 
motion in the air, and the duties and pleasures of 
its higher life, it does not remain any longer in the 
home of its childhood, but eats its way out, and 
sees and flies and walks just as if it had always 
done so. 

" There is another very interesting fact I must 
tell you. When the mother-wasp is building her 
nest in a room, she always takes the most direct 
course leading to it from the clay-bed which pro- 
vides her with material. But if the passage into 
the house first chosen is closed, she flies round the 
house until she finds an opening, and entering there 
directs her way through other rooms, without erring, 
to her nest. Is there not something like intelligence 
in such an act as that ? She evidently possesses a 
faculty by which she can adapt herself to circum- 
stances, and, as though gifted with reason, when she 
is shut out from reaching her nest by one passage, 



MA B YELS OF GOD'S PROVIDENCE. 175 

she seeks to find another passage-way by which she 
can reach it. 

" Is not insect-life becoming more and more won- 
derful as you progress in its study ? How marvel- 
ous is the providence of God, who does not neglect 
the wants of the smallest of his creatures ! His 
care extends to the little eyeless grub that is born 
and grows in such mud-cells as these, providing for 
it until it is elegantly equipped with the most beau- 
tiful wings, and eyes of wonderful structure, and 
an instinct that rivals the power of reason and as- 
tonishes us with its exploits. You must never de- 
spise the rough, inelegant infant-home of the dau- 
ber-wasp. It speaks to you of God as clearly as 
does the starry sky. It tells you to be content to 
'make haste slowly/ doing well and thoroughly 
everything you undertake." 



CHAPTEK XIII. 

THE ANTS — WONDERFUL INSECTS — LIVE IN COMMU- 
NITIES — GRUB — WORKERS— ANTS MAKE WAR WITH 
EACH OTHER — STORY OF AN ANT- WAR — ANT-HILLS 

ANTS' COWS — SLAVEHOLDING ANTS — SLAVE ANTS 

THE DRIVER ANTS AGRICULTURAL ANTS OF 

TEXAS— THEIR FARM — HOW THEY TAKE CARE OF 
THEIR HARVEST — GRAND WORKS OF THE ANTS— 
THEY TEACH US SYSTEM. 

AS the heat of summer grew more intense, the ants 
began to make their appearance, much to the an- 
noyance of the household, and our young natural- 
ists were very anxious to know something of their 
history. So it happened that when walking in the 
woods with their uncle on one of their rambles, 
James stumbled on an ant-hill, and produced no 
small disturbance within the industrious commu- 
nity. This was all that was needed to call forth 
from Uncle Samuel a brief account of their life. 

" I have often wanted to ask you to tell us the 
history of the ants," said James; "and now that we 
have disturbed a nest of them, we will all sit down 
in this beautiful shade and listen to you." 

" That we will," said Mary, who was not a little 

176 



THE ANTS. 177 

wearied by her long walk, and hence quite ready 
for a rest. 

" Oh, do tell us something about them," said 
Bertha, " for we have so many at our house in the 
city. They just get into everything, and mother 
says they are the greatest pests in creation. They 
are so busy too — always at work as if they had more 
to do than anybody else. Aunt can't keep them 
out of her sugar, and they get into her milk and 
everything. I wonder what thev are made for, any- 
how?" 

u I can tell you, cousin, one thing they are good 
for," said Charlie. " They teach us lessons of in- 
dustry and perseverance. Just look at these ants 
whose nest James stumbled on. How busy they 
are ! They have already commenced to repair the 
damage he has done their home. Don't you re- 
member the lines that Dr. Watts wrote about the 
ants ? — 

1 They don't wear out their time in sleeping or play, 
But gather up corn in a sunshiny day, 

And for winter they lay up their stores ; 
They manage their work in such regular forms, 
One would think they foresaw all the frosts and the storms, 

And so brought their food within doors/ 

But uncle knows all about them, and I will cheer- 
fully resign the office of teacher to him and become 
a listener." 

By this time they had all comfortably seated 
themselves on the grassy lawn, shaded by oaks and 

12 



178 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

maples, and Uncle Samuel, laying bis portfolio by 
bis side, began : 

" You will first want to know to what order of 
insects the ants belong. Seeing that the busy in- 
habitants of this ant-hill are wingless, you will not 
be able to classify them. But ants have wings 
during a part of their life, and these wings are 
membranous/' 

" Then they belong to the Hymenoptera ?" said 
Henry. 

" You are right," answered Uncle Samuel ; " and 
as the Latin word for ant is formica, the ant family 
is called Formicidce. It is a very large family, and 
is made up of a great number of species. Each of 
these species has some peculiarity by which it is dis- 
tinguished from all the rest, while there are a great 
many traits of character which are common to the 
whole family. I will first tell you about some of 
these common characteristics, and then I will give 
you the history of a few individual species. 

"Ants are among the most wonderful of insects. 
The instinct of the hive-bee is certainly wonderful. 
You can hardly look at a honeycomb filled with pure, 
clear honey without admiring the skill with which 
the cells are made and the process by which such 
delicious sweetness has been taken out of the cups 
of flowers and placed in the cells. The instinct, 
almost rivaling human reason, which the insects 
about which we have already talked so frequently 
display, has astonished you, but our little ant sur- 



GOVERNMENT OF THE ANTS. 179 

passes them all in industry and wisdom. The great 
king Solomon, disgusted with the idleness and worth- 
lessness of the idler, said to him, i Go to the ant, 
thou sluggard ; consider her ways and be wise : 
which having no guide, overseer or ruler, provideth 
her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in 
the harvest/ This same king gives to the ants the 
first rank among the four things on the earth that 
are wise. It might be that this king, who was the 
wisest king in the world when he reigned, derived 
a great many suggestions of w T isdom from the study 
of the manners, customs and laws of the ants." 

u Why, they are not people, uncle," said Bertha, 
somewhat astonished at his last remark. "You 
speak of them just as our geography speaks of the 
different nations in the w r orld. Do you mean that 
the ants have a government as men have ?" 

" Yes," answered Uncle Samuel, " they live in 
communities, and as they all work for the common 
interests, they govern themselves by certain laws 
which are known and obeyed by all. Ants are 
positive republicans. They do not believe in 
monarchy, as the hive-bee does, unless in the case 
of a nation of ants that live in Africa that have 
a monster queen, for whose interests the whole 
community lives. In their wonderful republics 
mobs are never known. All are obedient to au- 
thority, and each one has special duties to perform, 
which he discharges with great pleasure and prompt- 
ness. They are very patriotic, and if their habita- 



180 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

tions are attacked, they defend themselves with 
great heroism, and generally with success. 

" That all the departments of their model repub- 
lics may be well sustained they are divided into 
three classes — males, females, and workers or neu- 
ters. Of these the males and females have wings, 
while the workers are wingless. Each one of these 
orders is confined to its respective duties in the 
community as definitely as the castes are in India. 
They never contend about woman's rights. All 
parties are satisfied with the work and the posi- 
tion assigned them by the laws of their communi- 
ty, and live together in the most perfect harmony 
and affection. 

"Ants vary greatly in size, some being very small, 
as the common red ant which infests our cupboards 
and sugar-closets, while others are an inch long. 
Their head is broad and their hind-body is large. 
The general form of the body is slim. They have 
six long legs. They have antennae, but in the form 
of an elbow often. With these they examine every- 
thing they meet, and hold intercourse with each 
other. Their jaws are very strong, and they can 
use them for pincers, tweezers, scissors, pick-axe, 
fork or sword, according to circumstances. Each 
pair of legs is armed with a spur and fringed 
with very short hairs, which are their brushes. 
The eyes of the males are large and prominent, 
whilst the eyes of the females and the workers are 
small. The workers are smaller and stronger than 



FUNCTIONS OF WORKERS. 181 

the males, and these are smaller than the females. 
The males have four wings. They die after the 
pairing season. The females cast their wings about 
the time that the males die. The females lay their 
eggs in parcels of half a dozen or more. These are 
taken by the workers and deposited in a safe part 
of the nest till the young grub is hatched. The 
grub is w T hite, footless, with a horny, brown head. 
It is the office of the worker to supply the grubs 
with food and to watch them carefully until they 
are full grown. At adult age they spin for them- 
selves white silken cocoons and pass into the pupa 
state. These are w r hat the common people in Eu- 
rope call ant-eggs, and they are collected and sold 
in some of their cities as excellent food for mock- 
ing-birds and nightingales." 

""Why have not the neuters, or workers, wings 
as well as the males and females?" asked the inquis- 
itive Mary. "Are they to do all the drudgery, and 
then have to go everywhere on foot? Poor little 
w 7 orker ! I pity it." 

" If the workers needed wings, I have no doubt 
God would have given wings to them. But what 
would carpenters and masons do with wings ? And 
such are the workers. They are the carpenters and 
masons that build their houses, the ant-hills. They 
are the grocers who see to getting the marketing 
needed by the whole community. They are the 
nurses who take care of the young and rear them up 
to anthood. That they may not wander from home 



182 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

or neglect the important interest committed to them, 
they are without wings; hence they become very 
much attached to the community and faithfully 
attend to their duties. Their intimate relation to 
the members of the ant-nation makes them their 
natural guardians, while their authority and their 
strength enable them to defend the republic in the 
time of war." 

"Do ants ever make war with one another?" 
asked James. 

u I think they do," said Charlie. " I read, a few 
days ago, in a book written by a German author, 
a Mr. Hanhart, an account of a battle witnessed by 
him between two hills of brown ants and the inhab- 
itants of three hills of black ants. The black ants 
were smaller than the brown ants, but much more 
numerous. The brown ants made the attack, mov- 
ing in a line of battle twenty-four feet long. The 
black ants marched out to meet them. When they 
met the battle commenced. Their weapons were 
their jaws, stings and store of poison. After the 
fighting commenced the parts of the bodies, feet, 
legs, antennae, abdomens and heads were strewed 
all over the battle-field. At length the brown 
ants were conquered and fled, leaving their homes 
and fortresses in the hands of the enemy." 

" Such stories are told by all careful observers of 
the customs of the ants," said Uncle Samuel. "It 
would be well for the human race if the same cruel 
and barbarous stories could not be told of civilized 



ANT-HILLS. 183 

nations. Wars should be confined to insect tribes 
and other orders of animals, while man's superior 
energies should be devoted to the culture and de- 
velopment of his higher and God-like nature." 

Mary, who always became restive when the con- 
versation became too deep for her understanding, 
diverted her uncle from his moral lecture by the 
questions, 

"How are ant-hills made? and what are they 
used for?" 

"Ant-hills are built, sometimes, with the dirt 
which the workers take out of the tunnels and 
chambers of the nest. Sometimes the hills are 
composed of fragments of wood, pieces of straw, 
dry leaves and remains of insects. Each species 
has a plan of house-building peculiar to itself. The 
hills are the homes of the ants. Here they eat, 
sleep and have their domestic joys. Here they rear 
their offspring. The hillock is nothing more than 
the covering of a many- chambered palace under 
ground, all fitted up for the convenience of the ant- 
family which occupies it. The entrance to the nest 
is simply a hole or tunnel which the thrown-out 
rubbish conceals. As the excavation goes on, the 
tunnel branches out into a labyrinth in all direc- 
tions, and the pile of earth grows larger. The in- 
terior consists of corridors, landings, chambers and 
spacious rooms communicating with each other by 
long and short passage-ways. All of these passages 
lead to one central and grand gallery higher than 



184 



RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 



the others — a kind of council-chamber, where the 
ants hold all their mass-meetings. 

" I presume that you have some idea of the con- 
struction of the homes of the ants already, and your 
imagination can picture its passages and its rooms ; 
but here is an engraving that may give you a new 
thought about our busy little friends. It is a mag- 
nified picture of an ant drawing milk from one of 




Fig. 51.— Ant and Aphis. 

the little plant-lice (aphides) that so often annoy our 
rose-bushes." 

" Milk from plant-lice ! Now, uncle," said Ber- 
tha, " you are just making believe. PJant-lice are 
not cows." 

" I am not surprised that you doubt what I say, 
for the fact is very strange indeed ; but you must 
be willing to believe very remarkable things when 
you are studying the history of insects, for it is full 
of them. Plant-lice draw from the vegetables on 



ANT-COWS. 185 

which they feed a juice which they convert into a 
peculiar kind of liquor called honey-dew. The 
ants know this fact, and when they discover plant- 
lice on any vegetable or tree the whole community 
turn out, and they persuade the little insects, by 
gentle touches of their antennae, to disgorge the 
sweet juice drop by drop, which they immediately 
appropriate to their own use. The scientific name 
of plant-lice is aphides. They are homopterous in- 
sects, and have a remarkable history. They are 
very injurious to the plants on which they feed 
and they generate with wonderful rapidity, the 
mother of the first generation in one season becom- 
ing the progenitor of ten thousand millions of mil- 
lions. A French writer calls them 'the milch-cows 
of the ants/ The ants prize them so highly that 
thev are sometimes taken into their nests, where 
they are carefully watched and kindly treated for 
the sake of the honey-dew they secrete ; so you see 
that ants hold property in stock as men do. Some- 
times war arises between two ant-republics for the 
possession of these aphides. When such a war takes 
place the innocent aphides are made to suffer many 
wrongs, even from those who pretend to be their 
friends. 

"But I must not forget to tell you something 
more about the domestic habits of the ants. The 
females live together in great harmony, and having 
transferred to the workers the entire care and su- 
pervision of their young families, they have quite 



186 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

an easy time of it. The careful nurses tenderly 
provide for the comfort of the charge committed to 
them. During the day the grubs are placed in the 
open air to get the benefit of the sunlight. That 
the nurses may know when the sun shines on the 
hill, sentinels are placed just under the roof of the 
nest to observe the rising of the sun. When they 
are assured of the fact, they hasten to those who are 
watching by the cradles of the young, and, by touch- 
ing them in a significant way with their antennae, 
inform them that the sunbeams have reached the 
surface of the ant-hill. In a few seconds all the 
avenues are crowded with workers carrying the 
larvae in thin cocoons out of the nest to put them 
on the top of the hill, exposed to the sun's rays. 
When the heat becomes too great, their tender 
guardians remove them to chambers close to the top 
of the hill, where the heat of the sun is more mild. 
When the pupae are ready to escape from their co- 
coons the workers tear open their silken covering, 
and thus assist them in escaping. They then watch 
over the newly-born, feed them, teach them to walk, 
and never abandon them till they can help them- 
selves. 

"Some kinds of ants capture and hold slaves. 
This fact is so remarkable that it would not be be- 
lieved if it had not been discovered by most reli- 
able observers, such as Francis Huber. I find in 
my portfolio pictures of two species of slaveholding 
ants which belong to this continent. The first group 



SLA YEUOLDING ANTS. 



187 



represents the russet ants, in science known as Poly- 
crgus rufescens. (Fig. 52.) 




Fig. 52.— Russet Ants {Polyergus rufescens). 

"The next group represents the blood-red ant, 
Formica sav guinea. (Fig. 53.) 






Fig. 58.— Formica sanguined. 

" The slave-ants are the ashy-black [Formica 
fusca) and the mining-ants (Formica cunicularia). 
The former are more readily attacked, because they 
are more easily conquered. The latter defend them- 
selves with more vigor and success. Here is a group 
representing the male, worker and female of the 
mining-ants. (Fig. 51.) 






Male. 'Worker. Female. 

Fig. 54.— Mining- Ant (Formica cunicularia). 

" The russet ants have jaws made for war ; they 
appear to be well trained in the military art, and 



188 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

fight with great ferocity. They are so dependent 
on their slaves that without their constant service 
they would all die in a single year. The males and 
females do no work, and the workers are trained to 
no occupation except that of capturing slaves. 
They can neither build their own nests nor pro- 
vide food for their young. If at any time it is 
necessary to abandon their nests, the slaves actually 
carry their masters and mistresses in their jaws. 
How wonderful this instinct ! What a remarkable 
instance of the influence of slavery in making lazy 
and helpless creatures of the masters ! 

" The blood-red ants are less ferocious and not 
as good warriors as the russet ants. They regard 
their slaves as household servants, and treat them 
with much more kindness than those just described. 
They have fewer slaves, and aid them in building 
their nests and in other household duties. If their 
dwelling is attacked by an enemy, the masters show 
their esteem for their servants by carrying them 
down into the lowest apartments as a place of the 
greatest security. The slavery that exists among 
the ants is attended with no cruelty toward the 
slave-ants, inasmuch as they perform the same 
services in the nests of their masters as they would 
have done as freemen in their native community. 

" In Western Africa there is a remarkable spe- 
cies called the driver-ants. Their scientific name is 
Anomma arceus. These ants are exceedingly fero- 
cious. They do not live in permanent houses as other 



THE AGRICULTURAL ANT. 189 

ants do, but go everywhere in search of prey. They 
travel during the night or in cloudy weather, the 
direct rays of the sun being fatal to them. If com- 
pelled to travel during the day when the sun is 
very hot, they construct arches of clay, using cement 
which comes from their mouths. If on their march 
they meet with a river, they make a suspension- 
bridge out of their own bodies, over which the main 
army passes safely. I have a drawing in my port- 
folio which represents a column of driver-ants on 
the march. The ants have ascended a tree in their 
course standing on the verge of the stream, and are 
descending a living ladder hanging from a branch 
and extending across the water. The covered way is 
also seen in the foreground, and a few of the larger 
ants are drawn of the natural size. (Fig. 55.) 

" There is an ant living in Texas called the agri- 
cultural ant by the common people, and Myrmica 
malefaciens by men of science, whose habits are 
very remarkable in their way. It is said of it that 
it builds paved cities, constructs roads and sustains 
a large military force. It is a large brownish ant, 
and is called agricultural because of the attention 
it gives to the culture of the grain on which it 
feeds. In dry ground its house is covered with a 
low circular mound rising in the centre to the height 
of three, and sometimes six, inches. If its location 
is on low or flat ground, it elevates the mound to 
fifteen or twenty inches. In doing this it is guided 
by an instinct that foresees the danger to which its 



190 



RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS, 



habitation might be exposed by the overflow of the 
low land, and it provides for its safety. 




Fig. 55.— Driyer-Ants. (From Wood's Homes Without Hands.) 

"Around the mound the ant clears the ground, 
and levels and smooths it to the distance of three 
or four feet from the gate of the city. Within this 



DO ANTS REASON f 191 

area it sows the seed of the ant-rice. This it tends 
and cultivates carefully, and when ripe it gathers 
the seed, a small, flinty grain, chaff and all, into 
its cells, where it is freed from its chaff and stowed 
away. If it should become damp and sprout, it is 
exposed to the sun and dried. The good grains are 
then taken back for use, while the damaged grains 
are left to decay/' 

"You astonish us, uncle," said Charlie, "with 
your stories about ants. They are certainly a re- 
markable class of insects. Why, I begin to think 
that man is not the only animal in this world that 
has been endowed with reason. The driver-ant 
and the agricultural ant both seem to reason from 
cause to effect. If not, how could they so wisely 
make provision against threatening dangers or for 
overcoming unforeseen obstacles? How small man 
seems to be when brought in comparison with the 
little insignificant ant! What immense buildings 
it constructs compared with its size ! What grand 
council-chambers, what immense nurseries, w r hat 
large and deep tunnels, what covered ways, what 
bridges, does it construct ! Its tools — how simple 
and how skillfully used ! Your facts have thrown 
in the shade the builders of the great pyramids and 
the grandest cities on the globe. I think I can 
never become vain or proud because of any work 
that I shall ever do. 

" I think we ought all to learn from the ant not 
only to be industrious, but to work according to a 



192 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

plan, and that each one should do the part that 
belongs to himself—that is, that everybody should 
mind his own business, and not meddle with other 
people's business." 

At this stage of the conversation the supper-bell 
called the little party in from their ramble to a 
plentiful repast, which they all enjoyed the more 
because of the interesting feast served up by the 
side of the ant-hill. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

VISITING ANTS — ENTER HOUSES WITHOUT KNOCKING 
— INHABITANTS FLEE BEFORE THEM — WHITE ANTS 

MISNAMED — BELONG TO THE NEUROPTERA 

TERMES LUCIFUGUM — HOW THEY ESTABLISH THEIR 
EMPIRES — DWELLINGS OF THE TERMES BELLICOSUS 

OF AFRICA — WHY CALLED TERMITES WONDERFUL 

SIZE OF A TERMITE QUEEN ENEMIES OF THE 

TERMITES — TERMITES AS FOOD WISDOM OF GOD 

SHOWN IN HIS PUTTING BOUNDS TO THE INCREASE 
OF THE WHITE ANTS. 

IMMEDIATELY after tea Uncle Samuel was at- 
tended by his nephews and nieces to his study. 
They had become so attracted by his wonderful sto- 
ries about the ants that they begged him to resume 
them. 

" I know you can tell us more about the ants," 
said Mary. " Our teacher told us that there were 
ants in the West Indies that entered people's houses, 
and that everybody had to run before them or be 
eaten up. Is that true/ uncle? I should like to 
see an ant that I would run from. I would just 
put my foot on it, and then what could it do?" 

" Oh yes," answered Uncle Samuel, " you would 
be very bold if you had one ant only to contend 

13 193 



194 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

with ; but suppose they should come upon you by 
the million, and cover you up and crawl into your 
ears and eyes and nose and mouth, and bite and 
poison you all over, what could you then do? 
That is just what the visiting ants that your teach- 
er referred to would do with you if you were in the 
West Indies, and would not fly from the house into 
which they entered. This ant is called by scientific 
men Atta cephalotes. Here is 
a sketch of it. It is a savage- 
looking fellow. (Fig. 56.) 

"These ants are as large 
as a common wasp, and are 
very destructive in their rav- 
ages. Once every year they 
leave their homes and go out 
on their visiting-tours. They are not select as to 
the rank of the persons into whose houses they 
enter as visitors. They treat all persons in their 
way alike. Their swarms are innumerable. They 
enter houses without knocking or any warning, run 
through all the rooms and kill all the large and 
small insects that they find— such as spiders, centi- 
pedes, scorpions, lizards and toads. If the human 
inhabitants do not- leave the house to their exclu- 
sive possession, they will be devoured as well ; so 
they are glad to flee before them, These ants are 
regarded as friendly to man, because they free all 
dwellings from the numerous pests which are so 
annoying to the inmates. So when the visiting 




THE WHITE ANTS OF AFRICA. 195 

ants have left a house the occupants return to find 
it in a much better condition as a comfortable home 
than before their arrival. They also remove nox- 
ious carrion, which would soon breed pestilence, and 
thus they contribute to the health of the entire com- 
munity. Their superabundance, which would soon 
overrun everything, is checked by their enemies 
the ant-eaters and armadillos. These animals feed 
altogether on ants, and fix a limit to the increase of 
these destructive insects." 

" Ain't I glad I don't live in the West Indies !" 
said Bertha. " How I would run if I saw them 
coming to our house ! — So would you, Cousin Mary. 
They are not like our ants." 

"Are not the white ants in Africa, that build 
huge hillocks, more to be feared than the visiting 
ants?" asked Henry. "I read something about 
them in my Reader in school." 

" I am glad you mentioned the white ants, for I 
want to tell you that they are misnamed ants. They 
do not belong to the same order of insects. They 
introduce us to an order unknown to you. If their 
wings are examined, they will be found to differ in 
their structure from those of the true ant. The 
wings of the latter are membranous, but are not 
covered with nervures ; while the former have 
wings which are membranous, but so thickly set 
with veins as to look like network. As these veins 
are called nerves, the insects that have such wings 
are called Neuroptera — a word derived from two 



196 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

Greek words,* meaning nerve-winged. To this or- 
der belong the white ants — Termitid^: ; the dragon- 
flies — Libellulid^: : the may-flies — Ephemer- 
idjs; and the ant-lions — Myrmelionid^e. The 
first three do not undergo complete metamorphosis, 
as the butterflies and true ants do. There is not 
much difference between their larvse and the per- 
fect insects, and they are all active during their 
pupa state. 

" I have in my collection of drawings represen- 
tations of a species of white ants that at one time 
occasioned considerable alarm at Rochelle, France, 
because of their ravages. These drawings show the 
inhabitants of a white-ant hill, and will help you 
to understand more clearly their manner of life. 
(Figs. 57, 58.) 

" They unite in societies composed each of a great 
number of individuals, and they live on trees and 
in the ground, often attacking the woodwork of 
houses. When they attack woodwork they make 
numerous tunnels, and are very careful not to pierce 
or deface the surface of the wood. Hence the furni- 
ture in houses, thus destroyed, seems perfectly sound 
when by a very slight touch it w T ill fall to pieces. 

"You observe a great difference in the form of 
the termites. The winged ones are the males and 
females, the kings and queens of the ant-hill. These 
crawl to the door of their house and fly away, com- 
ing to the ground after a short time. When a male 
* Neuron, a nerve ; pteron, a wing. 




Fig. 57.— Different Insects in an Ant-Hill. (Termes 

luci/ugum). 

1. Workman. 2. Soldier. 3. Larva. 4. Nyraph with small wings. 

5. Nymph with long wings. (All magnified.) 



198 



RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 




Fig. 58.— Different Insects in an Ant-Hii,!, (Termes 

hici/ugum). 
1. Male. 2. Little female. 3. Large female. (All magnified.) 

and female meet each other, they cast off their wings 
just as the ants of our country do ; and become the 
founders of a new colony. The soldiers are unde- 
veloped males, and the workers are undeveloped 
females. 

" The process of founding a new empire is very 
curious. Workers take charge of the king and 



MOW ANTS FOUND AN EMPIRE. 199 

queen and enclose them in a chamber which forms 
the first room of their many-chambered nest. They 
are careful to make the opening or door of this 
royal chamber too small for the occupants to pass 
through. This makes it necessary for the laborers 
to take entire charge of the eggs. For these they 
build small nurseries, at first very close to and 
around the royal chamber. When the nest be- 
comes large by the increase of the inhabitants of 
the ant-city, these nurseries are made larger and 
at a greater distance. In the process of time their 
wonderful home is constructed, consisting of rooms 
for the royal pair, for nurseries and for the safe- 
keeping of their provisions. These apartments are 
all connected by passage-ways filled with laborers 
and soldiers zealously pursuing their respective 
callings. The dwellings of the Terrnes beUicosus, 
the white ant of Africa, are from nine to twelve feet 
in height, and are flanked with little towers, and 
they are so solidly built that several men may stand 
upon them with safety. 

"Here is a cut that gives a section of an ant- 
hill of Africa, and shows its internal structure." 
(Fig. 59.) 

" Why are they called termites ?" asked Mary. 

u The word termes, which is the name of a single 
ant, is Latin, and means a branch of a tree. I have 
no doubt this name was given to this insect because 
of its fondness for making nests on branches of trees, 
as is represented in the cut. (Fig. 60.) Men of sci- 




Fig. 59 — Nest of the White An^ (Termes bellicosvs). 



FECUNDITY OF QUEES-TERMES. 



201 



once arc sometimes governed by strange fancies in 
choosing names for families of insects. 

"Here is a picture of a queen-term es distended 
with eggs. (Fig. 61.) Her abdomen becomes two 
thousand times as large as the rest of her body. 
She is then six inches long, and weighs as much as 
thirty thousand workers or as one thousand kings. 
She lays sixty eggs in a minute and more than 
eighty thousand 

¥'■ 
»1 

m 




Fig. 60.— Nest of White Ants. 



in a day. This 
is not confined to 
a few days, but 
goes on at this 
rate throughout 
the year. The 
mother-bee does 
not produce as 
many eggs in a 
year as the queen 
of the termites does in a single day. If this family 
of insects had not a great many enemies who are ever 
on the watch to destroy them, they would soon be- 
come the masters of the world. Birds, poultry and 
the true ants devour them greedily. The inhabit- 
ants of Southern Africa are very fond of them. 
They roast them as we roast coffee, and then eat 
them by handfuls. Travelers also become fond of 
them, and compare their flavor to that of sugared 
cream." 

" How strange it is," said Henry, " that men 



202 



RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 



should have a relish for such food as ants! It 
must be because the people that live in Africa have 



r M&%h 




scarcely anything to live on, and they are glad even 
to feed on ants." 

" Why, John the Baptist ate locusts and wild 



TASTE IN EATING. 203 

honey in the wilderness/' said James. "Do you 
think his taste for food was much more refined 
than the poor ant-eater's?" 

" It is not long since/' said Charlie, " that you 
both were full of your praises of the deliciousness 
of a dish of frogs, which you ate with a relish not 
certainly excelled by any of the ant-eaters. This 
matter of taste as to what we eat and drink depends 
much on climate and education. The refined Af- 
rican wonders as much at the barbarous tastes of 
Americans and Englishmen. I remember reading 
a story in Livingstone's Travels in South Africa, in 
which an African chief said to Livingstone, 'Did 
you ever taste white ants?' When the great trav- 
eler answered in the negative, he said, i Well, if 
you had, you never could have desired to eat any- 
thing better.' The chief considered his own taste 
for food the standard for the whole world. So you 
are disposed to make your tastes the standard by 
which to judge the tastes of Africans. 

" While I let the ant-eaters enjoy their dinner of 
termites, I see in their relish for that kind of food 
clear evidence of the wisdom of God in thus making 
provision for limiting the bounds of their rapidly- 
increasing numbers. It would very much derange 
the order of things if one species of insects should 
occupy a whole continent, destroying everything 
before it. But if what uncle says is true, it would 
not be long before this insect would drive from Af- 
rica all other animals except birds and fishes, and 



204 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

the whole country would be a dreary wilderness. 
This terrible result is prevented by the fact that it 
is good for food, and supplies the wants of men and 
ant-eating insects." 

" You are quite right/' said Uncle Samuel, " in 
your view of the divine wisdom. We see many 
things in the government of God which we cannot 
understand, while we can scarcely help seeing the 
highest wisdom in the results. And here we may 
well note the fact that in the animal creation there 
is a series of checks, by which the various orders 
are kept within bounds as to number. One order 
lives by keeping another order from multiplying 
injuriously. Man is at the head, with wisdom and 
strength given him to control the numbers of the 
lords of the lower creatures." 

Here the conversation for the evening came to a 
close, and they all retired to the family-room, where, 
in sincere gratitude for the blessings of the day, they 
knelt around the family altar and offered up de- 
vout thanksgiving to God and sought his pardon, 
and commended themselves to his keeping — a fit- 
ting close to the duties and pleasures of the day. 



CHAPTER XV. 

HOME OF THE ANT-LION — THE CLUMSY GRUB OF THE 
ANT-LION — HOW IT CATCHES ANTS — CHARLIE'S 
MORAL REFLECTIONS — A SPIDER IN THE ANT- 

LION'S PIT GROWTH AND TRANSFORMATIONS OF 

THE ANT-LION GRUB — WHY DOUBT THE HEAVEN- 
LY LIFE AWAITING THE CHRISTIAN? HOW ANT- 
LION PHILOSOPHERS MIGHT REASON — GOODNESS 
OF GOD THE ANT-LION NEVER BORROWS TROU- 
BLE — PRACTICAL LESSONS. 

IT was a beautiful afternoon. The sky was clear 
and the sun shone in his beauty, not parching 
everything with intense heat, but sweetly alluring 
the lovers of Nature to ramble among the wild- 
flowers and over the green fields. It was a holi- 
day, and our young naturalists, full of zeal to learn 
more of the grand lessons of the divine wisdom so 
clearly taught in the in sect- world, proposed to take 
Uncle Samuel with them and visit some of the 
haunts of insects not yet observed by them. 

"Yes, cheerfully," said Uncle Samuel when 
asked to become one of the company of explorers. 
" I am always ready to go out on such excursions. 
But I must not forgot my budget of pictures. Hand 

205 



206 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

rae my portfolio ; we may need to look at some of 
the drawings before we return." 

They had not gone far when little Mary, always 
looking out for something new, discovered in a 
sandy spot a little funnel-shaped depression, so re- 
gular in its outline that she at once suspected that 
some insect had been at work there. 

" Look'ee here, uncle," she said ; " how did this 
hole get here? See, it is as round as a thimble, and 
just like a funnel with its mouth up." 

There was an anxious and interested company of 
observers suddenly gathered about the spot where 
Mary stood, and various conjectures were volun- 
teered as to the cause of the liliputian sand-pit. 
But all agreed that it did not happen there by any 
accident. That it was made was evident, because 
there were marks of design in its structure, simple 
as it was. 

Seeking a closer examination, Bertha dropped 
upon her knees on the ground and looked carefully 
into the little pit. She was soon rewarded for her 
pains by catching sight of the outstretched mandi- 
bles of the occupant lying at the bottom of the pit. 
(Fig. 62.) _ 

" I see its arms," she cried. " What ugly things 
they are ! Its body is all covered up in the sand. 
Poor thing ! let's dig it out." 

" No, don't Bertha — you'll spoil the pit. Wait 
till uncle sees it," said Henry, who interposed just 
here for the sake of science and because he wanted 



THE ANT-LION. 207 

to learn the history of the strange insect that had 
attracted their attention, before it was disturbed. 

"You must make way for me, then," said Uncle 
Samuel, " that my eyes too may rest upon the object 
which has suddenly produced such an excitement. 
Ah! now I see. I am glad you have made this 
discovery ; it will amply repay you for this after- 
noon's ramble. The occupant belongs to the same 
family of insects with the white ants. It has a 
history intensely interesting. The arms which Ber- 
tha saw are its mandibles or jaws stretched out to 








Fig. 62.— The Ant-Lion in its Pit. 

capture ants or other insects that may fall down the 
steep sides of its pit. Because it lies in wait for its 
prey in its own den it is called a ' lion/ and be- 
cause it feeds chiefly on ants it is called the 'ant- 
lion/ It makes its sand-pit in its grub state; when 
it is a perfect insect it has beautiful wings and looks 




208 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

very much like a small snake-feeder. Its scientific 

name is Myrmeleo formicarius, 

"In the engraving which I have here you can 

see the insect in three of its stages. The figure 
at the right shows it in its larva 
stage, that at the left in its pupa 
state, and below as it is when 
wrapped in its cocoon. But you 
can see the grub itself if you 
only blow two or three times into 
the sand-pit sharply, and bring 
out the insect to discover what is 

pa and Cocoon of L11U n ^ LLtl - 

the ant-lion. This was soon done by James, 

and the sight of the lubberly insect increased the 
interest of the young observers in its singular 
history. 

"You notice," continued Uncle Samuel, "that 
like all other insects it has six legs. You are as- 
tonished at its sudden disappearance and at the 
ease with which it buries itself in the sand. This 
backward motion is natural to it. Of its six legs, 
the hinder pair are the only ones employed by it 
in walking, and these, instead of moving the an- 
imal forward, drag it backward. When it takes a 
journey, its body sinks under the sand and its hind 
legs draw it back, so that its course is easily traced 
by the little hillocks it leaves behind it. It may 
well be said of it that it raises a great dust in the 
world when it travels." 



BOW IT CATCHES ANTS. 209 

"If tliis insect lives on ants and always walks 
backward, I\l like to know how it can capture its 
prey," said James. "It must have a hard time 
getting through the world with such awkward, 
back-handed legs as it has." 

"I do not wonder at your question/' answered 
Uncle Samuel. " It does seem impossible for it to 
make a living with all its disadvantages of locomo- 
tion. But the kind Creator never gave being even 
to the smallest insect without endowing it with such 
wisdom as is necessary to enable it to obtain its own 
food and to resist or escape its enemies ; so he has 
not neglected the ant-lion and left it to starve, even 
if its food be one of the most active of insects. It 
has a lifework appointed for it as certainly as you 
have. It has also a higher life awaiting it, which 
it will certainly attain. And surely if such an un- 
couth grub as this can provide for all its wants and 
fulfill the end of its existence, none of you need ever 
despair of success in life. But you want to know 
how it supplies itself with ants enough to satisfy its 
wants. Certainly not by catching them by run- 
ning after them, so God has taught it to devise a 
plan by which they come to it. This is an exceed- 
ingly curious device which no one but an ant-lion 
would ever think of. 

" When it resolves to set up for itself and com- 
mence housekeeping, it selects a spot where the 
sand is loose and deep. Pushing itself beneath the 
surface so as to leave exposed its head and its jaws, 

14 



210 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

it begins the work of excavation. It shuts its long 
jaws, forming them into a kind of shovel, the 
sharp edges of which it thrusts sideways into the 
sand on each side of its head, thus lodging a quan- 
tity of the sand on the head as well as the jaws ; 
then by a jerking motion of the head the sand is 
thrown behind its back or on each side. In this 
way it penetrates still deeper into the sand, throw- 
ing it away as it descends, until the pit has assumed 
the funnel-shaped appearance you witness. When 
the pit is sufficiently deep for its purposes it with- 
draws its head beneath the sand and leaves its jaws 
only exposed, and these are so spread out on the 
sand as to be scarcely visible. Now its 'dug-out' 
is ready for use, and the insect remains covered 
up at the bottom, calmly awaiting the fortune 
that sends its prey tumbling down the treacher- 
ous sides of the sand-pit into its open jaws. 

"But here comes a little ant running along on 
its daily round of duty or pleasure, not suspecting 
that danger is near. Let us mark how this cun- 
ningly-devised scheme will work. See, it is ap- 
proaching the edge of the sand-pit ; now it halts to 
make observations, creeping rather cautiously still 
closer to the edge, as though to learn the true na- 
ture of the depression. It may be a philosopher 
determined at all risks to find out the cause of this 
opening in its pathway. One more step, and one 
too many. It has touched the loose sand, and down, 
down, helplessly it falls into the extended jaws of 



TRAPS FOR THE UNWARY. 211 

the hungry ant-lion. What a commotion in this 
little sand-pit! The happy occupant is sucking the 
juices of its prey, and will soon hurl its withered 
carcass out of the den." 

"How wonderful !" exclaimed Charlie, "but all 
perfectly natural and right. The ant-lion is secur- 
ing its living in a legitimate way — all well enough 
for itself, but death to the unlucky ant. Its pit 
makes me think of the pits which are everywhere 
open along our walks, into which the young often 
fall and are destroyed. They are the gambling- 
saloons, billiard- and drinking-saloons, card-tables 
and the theatre ; evil companions are the loose 
sands, and the devil is the ant-lion. If a care- 
less, heedless boy goes too near any of these pits, 
and evil companions get hold of him, he is almost 
sure to go rolling down the sides into the jaw r s of 
the great ant-lion, and the juices of his life are soon 
drawn out of him. For my part, I intend to keep 
far off from the edges of such pits, lest I slip as did 
this unfortunate ant, and my life become a failure." 

" You have made the only safe resolution," an- 
swered Uncle Samuel, u and I am glad to know that 
the fate of the unwary and too venturesome ant has 
been so full of instruction to you. I hope you will 
all think how perilous it is to approach dangerous 
places. Keep far away from all precipices and all 
kinds of pits, and you will never be injured by any 
of them." 

" But how does the ant-lion suck the juices of the 



212 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

ant ?" asked Henry. " It seems only to hold the 
ant with its long arm." 

" Its mandibles are not solid, but tubular, so that 
it pierces the ant with them and sucks its juices. 
They are a fine mechanical contrivance, in which 
the wisdom of God is shown in adapting these in- 
struments of capture to the higher wants of the 
insect." 

" What could the ant-lion do if some larger in- 
sect than an ant should fall into his pit ?" asked 
Bertha. 

" Sometimes such a thing occurs, as when a spider 
carelessly walking about chances to step over the 
edge of the ant-lion's den. He is strong and able 
to contend for his life, and has no idea of permitting 
it to be sucked out of him without a struggle. The 
ant-lion soon perceives that his new prey is not to 
be as easily secured as the weak and helpless ant. 
The little quiet insect-home is soon changed into 
the scene of a desperate conflict. The spider makes 
every effort to escape, and the ant-lion, fearing lest 
he lose his savory meal, begins to twist his head 
about, shoveling up the sand with great activity, 
making the hole much deeper and its sides steeper, 
and causing such a disturbance in its sides that the 
spider finds it impossible, with all its great strength, 
to make its escape ; at last it falls to the bottom, 
where it is soon disabled, and is held fast by the 
jaws of the lordly owner of the den till he has 
feasted upon its delicious juices. 



MYRMELEON FORMICARIUS. 213 

"When you look at this lubberly thing crawling 
about the mouth of the sand-pit, and then at the neat, 
sprightly, narrow-winged insect in the picture (Fig. 
64), you may wonder how such a remarkable change 
ever took place. And yet there is no miracle here. 
You see the animal in the two extreme stages of its 
existence. There is a stage of its life between these 
two in which it presents an aspect differing from 




Fig. 64.— Ant-Lion (Myrmeleon formicarius). 

both. This is its pupa state, during which it re- 
mains buried in the sand awaiting its transforma- 
tion into its last and perfect stage, in which it shall 
be adorned as a thing of beauty and fitted for the 
full enjoyment of its higher-life state. 

" Such a wonderful change in the shape and state 
of the same animal would scarcely be believed were 
it not established by accurate observation. And 
surely when the great Creator has endowed this 
diminutive insect with such astonishing life-power 



214 B AMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

we ought not to doubt his own word when he tells us 
that beyond the grave there is a higher and better life 
awaiting man — a life in which he shall be gifted with 
purer and nobler tastes, holier desires and powers of 
movement far surpassing those he now possesses. 

" I have no doubt that if there were philosophers 
among the grubs of the ant-lion, as there are among 
men, and it were told them that, after they had ceased 
to live as grubs and had wrapped themselves up in 
their silken cocoons to sleep their last sleep beneath 
the sand, thev should rise again out of their silent 
tomb to dwell in the air with beauteous dress and 
gauze-like wings — that they should in their higher 
state of being no longer move in slow measures, 
crab-like, backward, and be compelled to wrestle 
with difficulties to secure the coarse food which 
the misfortune of other insects brought to their 
door, but that, eagle-like, swiftly darting through 
the air, they would eat more delicious food, and 
in that higher life breathe a purer atmosphere and 
mingle with insects of noble mien and gorgeous 
dress, and gaze upon the sun and reflect his glory 
in their seraph wings, — these students of Nature, 
i wise in their own conceit/ would reject such teach- 
ings as the wildest ravings of the fancy. 

" They would, no doubt, proceed to show how 
and why there could be no future state, no higher 
life — that ant-lions were made simply to spend 
their life in the bottom of their conical nest, drain- 
ing the juices of the unfortunate insects that should 



AN INTERESTING SCENE. 215 

fall a prey to their ingenious snare, and that when 
they had eaten their last ant and their physical pow- 
ers were worn out they would pass away into their 
original nothingness or be absorbed into the great 
absolute insect. But how the sprightly, joyous, 
winged insect that has risen out of the abandoned 
shell of the buried ant-lion, with its new-formed 
body and loftier views of life, would laugh at the 
silly talk of the self-deceived philosopher, who tried 
to draw him away from his faith in a future life 
during his grubhood !" 

It was an interesting scene — that group — during 
Uncle Samuel's long and somewhat profound talk ; 
for, though the little girls did not quite understand 
all that was said about the ant-lion philosophers, 
still they were convinced by the earnest tone and 
the sparkling eyes of their uncle that the subject 
was intensely interesting, and they listened with 
fixed attention. The boys comprehended all that 
was said, and felt drawn to the study of insect-life 
with a new attraction as they listened to the argu- 
ments of their uncle. The philosophic Charlie was 
not slow to perceive the wisdom of God as displayed 
in the structure and habits of the ant-lion, and, hav- 
ing listened with unusual interest to his uncle, ven- 
tured to give expression to his feelings: 

"Your account of this ant-lion, uncle, is truly 
astonishing. The more I learn of the wonders of 
the insect-world the more clearly do I see the good- 
ness of God. When I see this pit with its tiger-like 



216 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

proprietor, and reflect on the fitness here displayed of 
the means to the end, I am filled with wonder and 
praise. I wonder at the curious expedient by which 
Nature has made up for the want of perfect organs 
of locomotion in the insect, and the remarkable and 
intelligent actings of that instinct with which it has 
been endowed, and I am filled with praise of the 
benevolent Creator whose greatness and glory do 
not prevent him from providing for the necessities 
of such apparently useless animals as ant-lions." 

" Your thoughts might rise still higher," said his 
uncle. " You are each of more value than myriads 
of ant-lions ; and I know that He who makes such 
wonderful provision for the grub-life of the ant- 
lion, and then lifts it up out of the grave and makes 
it a gorgeous and beautiful thing of elegant propor- 
tions and sylph-like wings, giving it a higher and 
better life, will not forget you, but will provide you 
with true soul-food — the truth of God — and after 
death will lift you up out of your graves and give 
you a nobler and holier life — a life of glory and im- 
mortality in the future world. 

" One thing more I want to tell you about the 
ant-lion. When it commences to make its den it 
does not know what obstacles it may have to en- 
counter. But it does not borrow trouble, as many 
men do, and neglect present duty, lest difficulties 
which it cannot master may present themselves. 
With unflinching courage it takes hold of its work, 
and labors perse veringly till it has completed it. 






LESSONS FROM THE ANT-LION. 217 

Sometimes a pebble too large to be tossed out of the 
pit by it is met. With earnestness of purpose that 
knows no discouragement, it takes up the heavy 
pebble on its head or back, and carefully walks up 
the side of the pit and throws it over the margin. 
Some observers say that to prevent its ever falling 
back into its pit it pushes the stone to a consider- 
able distance from the mouth. If the stone is round 
and falls off the head or back of the struggling 
insect while ascending the treacherous side, it re- 
peats the trial, until at last it overcomes every ob- 
stacle, and has the pleasure of taking its position at 
the bottom of the pit, cordially to welcome, and 
feelingly to embrace, every traveling insect that 
visits its mansion. 

" You should all learn a lesson from the hero of 
my story. It is by moral courage, diligence and 
perseverance that you are to be successful in life. 
In every undertaking there are obstacles to success 
that must be removed. These are often very great, 
and will require trial after trial before success is 
reached. You know the song, 

'If at first you don't succeed, 
Try, try again.' 

Follow the example of the ant-lion, who gave 
not up the great object of its life because the first 
effort Was not successful, but persevered till it con- 
quered. If your lessons are hard, study them the 
more diligently and think the more intensely. If 



218 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

you are entering upon the responsibilities of life, 
and meet with discouragements in the way, face 
them courageously. Persevere. One by one your 
difficulties will be overcome, and in the end you 
will wear the laurel. Never forget the ant-lion 
and its lessons." 

Here Uncle Samuel's interview with the young 
naturalists ended. An engagement to meet a gentle- 
man on important business called him away, but 
not before he had promised to take another ram- 
ble with them whenever their school duties would 
permit. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

ONE OF THE ANAKIM — THE BOMBYCIDJE — THE 
CATERPILLAR AND ITS SILKEN COCOON — THE GE- 
NUS TELE A, GROUP ATTACI — THE A. POLYPHEMUS 

AN OLD FABLE — THE SILKWORM MOTH — ITS 

VALUE DISCOVERED BY A CHINESE QUEEN 

JULIUS CESAR INTRODUCED SILK INTO ROME — 
EGGS BROUGHT TO CONSTANTINOPLE BY MONKS 
SILK-CULTURE IN GREECE, FRANCE AND ENG- 
LAND — TRANSFORMATIONS OF SILKWORM — UNITY 
OF DESIGN PROVEN FROM THE ADAPTATION OF 
SILK TO THE WANTS OF MAN — REFLECTIONS. 

DURIXG the summer vacation our young friends, 
whose interest in the study of the forms and 
habits of insects was so gratifying to Uncle Samuel, 
spent much of their time in collecting specimens. 
Their zeal as students of natural history was greatly 
increased by their uncle's familiar talk about every 
capture that was new to them. While they were 
thus rapidly increasing their collection they were 
becoming familiar with the names and instincts of a 
large number of the inhabitants of the insect-world. 
It was a study of which they never became weary. 
Every walk in the fields brought them in contact 
with old acquaintances whose history they knew 

219 



220 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

or with strange forms that excited afresh the spirit 
of inquiry. 

" A new insect ! a new insect ! Let us go for 
him quick V At such a call all earnestly plied 
their nets, till some one would cry out, "I've 
caught him ! he's my prisoner ;" and then no time 
w r as lost in finding their way to their uncle's study, 
where they w-ould soon learn its name and history, 
and something about its mission in the world. 

The example of our young friends is worthy of 
imitation. There is no more exciting exercise than 
a butterfly-chase, and the collection of insects 
made during the summer would afford profitable 
and interesting study for the entire winter season. 

Now, it happened that one evening Henry caught 
a large moth with brown wings, marked with an 
eye-spot on each wing, the more prominent one 
being on each hinder wing, and having two feather- 
like antennae on its head. (Fig. 65.) 

"What can it be?" said Mary. "What big 
wings it has ! I wonder if it can see out of the 
eyes it has on its wings ? Let's take it to Uncle 
Samuel." 

Henry was very proud of his capture, and carry- 
ing it carefully he soon found his w T ay into his 
uncle's study. " I've caught him ! I've caught 
him !" he exclaimed as he presented his prisoner 
to Uncle Samuel. " I've caught the king of all 
the insects. Isn't he one of the giants? He 
didn't care, either, for he let me come right up to 



222 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

him and put my cap over him ; and then I put my 
hand under my cap, and he was mine." 

" It must have lived a long time to grow so big," 
said Bertha. " Look at its two nice little wings 
growing out of its head ! Aren't they beauties ? 
I wonder if it flies with them?" 

" You have indeed caught a very fine moth, and 
I do not wonder at your astonishment at its size ; 
but you must not judge of the age of a moth, Ber- 
tha, by its bigness. So now, if you will all sit 
down and listen to me, I will tell you something 
about this splendid moth, and also about one of 
its relatives that has become very famous in the 
world." 

" That we'll do with all our heart," said James. 

So they seated themselves as near to their uncle 
as they could, Mary and Bertha drawing their little 
chairs up so close that they rested their arms on his 
knees. It was a happy, earnest group of listeners, 
with their eyes fixed on their uncle. 

" This fine large moth is the Telea polyphemus ; it 
belongs to the silk-spinning family, whose name is 
Bombycidce. This high-sounding name comes from 
the Greek word bombyx, which means silkworm. 
The caterpillar of this moth spins for itself a cocoon 
of very fine silken threads, which have been manu- 
factured into durable silk fabrics. It feeds on the 
oak, elm, hickory, bass-wood, walnut, butternut and 
thorn. * I have found its chrysalis on the privet. It 
comes to its full growth in August or September. 



LARVA OF TELEA POLYPHEMUS. 223 

The color of the caterpillar is a clear bluish-green. 
Its head and feet are brown. Its warts are as lus- 
trous as pearl, and are orange, rose-red and purple. 
On the side of each segment is an oblique white line. 
At its maturity it is more than three inches long 
while feeding, but when in repose it hunches up 
the rings, clinging to the twig with its back down- 
ward." (Fig. 66.) 



\ \ A 





Fig. 66.— Larva of Telea polyphemus. 

" How does it know when to spin its cocoon ?" 
asked Mary. " And has it any one to show 7 it 
how?" 

" As soon as it is full grown it loses its appetite 
for food and becomes restless, moving about as if 
in search of some place where it can rest safely. 
I have seen the worm stop and raise its head, mov- , 
ing it from side to side, as if it was taking a view 



224 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

of its surroundings, and then it would remain still 
for a while, as if thinking of the wonderful change 
that had come over its tastes and plans for the 
future. It will sometimes commence its work of 
cocoon-building, and then abandon the place cho- 
sen for another. When it has finally settled on the 
locality in which it purposes to make its cocoon, it 
draws two or three leaves together very ingeniously 
by threads of silk as the foundation of it. It then 
begins to spin its covering, moving its head from 
side to side in zi^zas; lines, until it has surrounded 
itself with its silken shroud. It takes about four 
or five days to complete its cocoon, and in the ope- 
ration the worm moves its head from one end of the 
cocoon to the other two hundred and fifty-four 
thousand times, never stopping to rest. Here is a 
good drawing of this cocoon. (Fig. 67/) 




Fig. 67. — Cccoon of Telea polyphemus. 

" When the work of cocoon-spinning is ended, it 
changes into its pupa state, in which it has an ap- 
pearance very different from its larva state, as shown 
in this drawing. (Fig. 68.) 




DERIVATION OF NAMES. 225 

"This moth belongs to the genus Tvlea, group 
Attacina>, which represents the largest kind of Bom- 
bycklce. There are eight American species of the 
Attacince — the Columbia, Luna, Splendida, Prome- 
thea, Angulifcra, Cecropia, Californica and the 
Polyphemus. The Luna is a very beautiful moth, 
and derives its name from the Latin word for moon; 
hence it is poetically 
called i fair empress of 
the night/ The Prome- 
thea is called after one 
of the fabled Titans of 
the olden times, all of 
whom were of remark- Fig. 68.— pupa or chrysalis of 

ti mi n • Telea polyphemus. 

able size. 1 he Cecropia 

derives its name from the ancient city of Athens. 
This is the largest of these moths, its wings expand- 
ing from seven to nine inches. The last one of this 
group, the Polyphemus, is the one which you have 
caught. 

" This beautiful moth bears the name of one of 
the giants of mythology. Polyphemus was said to 
be king of the Cyclops, a race of fabled monsters 
who dwelt on the western shore of Sicily and lived 
on the flesh of men. They were of great stature, and 
had only one eye, which was situated in the middle 
of the forehead. I suppose the single eye on each 
wing suggested the name to the imaginative natu- 
ralist. Now, if you will only look up i Polyphemus' 
in some good encyclopedia or work on ancient my- 

15 



226 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

thology, you will find out many more things about 
this man of one eye, and how Ulysses crippled him, 
and then cunningly made his escape out of his 
cave." 

"I have read all about the Cyclops and their 
king," said Charlie, " but I never supposed that 
their history would be recalled to my memory by 
a moth. But I am anxious to hear about the rela- 
tive — cousin, I suppose — of this moth, which you 
say has become so famous all over the world." 

" This relative is not as large or as handsome a 
moth as this one. You would never think of call- 
ing it ' the king of all the insects/ and yet it is more 
worthy of the honor. While our Polyphemus moth, 
with all its magnificence, is but little known and is 
noticed by few, its relative, of moderate size and 
unassuming in its dress, is reverenced by kings and 
gives riches to nations. Though unadorned by any 
brilliant spots or lines of beauty, queens are indebt- 
ed to it for the richest robes that decorate their per- 
sons. It is about one inch long, and its wings ex- 
tend about two inches. The antennse of the males 
are small and feather-like; they fly about in the 
evening, and sometimes by day, but the females are 
inactive. These lay their eggs on the mulberry tree, 
on the leaves of which the caterpillar feeds. The 
eggs are about the size of a mustard-seed, and the 
worm is very small when it is hatched. Its appe- 
tite is capital, and, as it eats ravenously, it grows in 
a very short time three inches long, or nearly five 



THE SILKWORM. 227 

hundred times as large as it was when it first saw 
the light. If either one of you should grow as large 
in proportion, when full grown you would be more 
than four hundred and fifteen feet high. 

u This is the worm that produces the fine silk of 
which our dresses, shawls and ribbons are made. 
Its name is Bombyx mori. You know that bombyx 
means silkworm, and mori means of mulberry, from 
the Latin word morus, so that the name when trans- 
lated means 'mulberry silkworm.' This worm has 
a remarkable history. Its ancestors lived in the 
world thousands of years before their value was 
known. All this time they dwelt in the woods, 
spinning away at their silk, but without attracting 
any attention. At length, as the story goes, a long 
time before Christ was born, one of the queens of 
China, while walking through the royal grove, no- 
ticed one of the cocoons made by this worm, and, 
plucking it from its fastenings, she took it to the 
palace. Examining the threads of which it is com- 
posed, she admired them for their fine quality, and 
discovered that she could separate them and wind 
them in a ball for use. She then collected a great 
number of cocoons and wove the threads into fine 
cloth for wearing apparel. 

"This was a very important discovery, because 
up to that time the clothing of the Chinese was 
made from the skins of animals, and there were not 
enough skins to supply the wants of the increasing 
population of that great country. There was, there- 



228 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

fore, a great demand for some other fabric out of 
which good clothing could be made, and the silk 
of this ne>vly-discovered worm was so employed. 
It was a great thing for this neglected creature, that 
had been kept away from the habitations of man 
for centuries, to be raised at once to the rank of a 
favorite of queens and royal ladies. But so it was. 

" I do not assert that this is a true story, but the 
Chinese believe it, and they say that the name of 
this queen was Si-ling-chi. Now, if ever such a 
woman lived it is well to remember her name, and 
the Chinese have done well to tell us who she was. 
Her husband, the story says, built an enclosure join- 
ing his palace, where the mulberry was planted and 
the silkworm was raised; so every day the queen 
went into that enclosure with her maids of honor 
to feed the worms and gather the cocoons, and the 
finest pieces of silk were always woven by her own 
hands. Si-ling-chi was an industrious queen, and 
the Chinese may well regard her as one of the best 
of their race. 

" It was not many years till the people in China 
made large quantities of silk and sold it to other 
countries. It became, therefore, a source of great 
wealth to the Chinese, and for fear other nations 
would learn to make silk for themselves the empe- 
rors forbade the carrying of the eggs of the silkworm 
out of the country. In this way for a long time the 
manufacture of silk was confined to China, and its 
price was greatly increased. About the year 300 



THE SILKWORM, 229 

before Christ, when Alexander the Great was but a 
little boy, silk was sold in the cities of Greece for 
its own weight in gold. 

"Julius Caesar, who was born one hundred and 
two years before Christ, was the first who intro- 
duced silk to the Romans. He dressed himself in 
silk robes. After his death the emperors and rich 
men became very extravagant in the expensiveness 
of their silken garments; but they did not know how 
the silk was made, and the people had no idea that 
the splendid robes of the emperor and the senators 
were the product of a worm. They supposed the 
material to be of vegetable origin. Aristotle and 
Pliny, two learned naturalists — one of Greece and 
the other of Rome — said that a caterpillar made 
the silk, but they were not believed. 

"I know you will be glad to learn that some 
one succeeded in getting the eggs of the silkworm 
out of China and to introduce the manufacture of 
silk into other parts of the world. It happened in 
the year 530, when Justinian I, was emperor of 
Constantinople, that two monks were sent on a 
mission to China. While there they learned how 
to raise the silkworm and to manufacture silk. 
Securing a number of silkworms' eggs in their 
hollow canes, they returned to Constantinople. 
From this small beginning the culture of silk 
took its rise in Turkey. 

"Spreading into Greece, the cultivation of the 
mulberry became so general there that that penin- 



230 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

sula was called Morea — that is, Mulberry — peninsula. 
It was also noticed that the shape of the peninsula 
was that of a mulberry- leaf, as though it had been 
originally designed for the home of the silkworm. 
A long time after this, in the year 1340, the people 
of France began to raise the silkworm and to man- 
ufacture silk. This trade has now become a very 
important one in that country. England did not 
manufacture silk successfully till about the year 
1824. Many attempts have been made to raise 
silk in this country, and with little success; but 
the manufacture of silk is carried on with decided 
success in the States of Connecticut and New 
Jersey. 

" Here is an engraving which represents the in- 
sect in all its stages. You see two caterpillars, full 
grown — one just getting ready to feed on a leaf, and 
another commencing to spin its cocoon. A cocoon 
is represented as laid open, and the chrysalis lies on 
the branch below, while the male and female moths 
spread their wings at the top of the picture. 

u When the caterpillar has arrived at its full 
growth and the days of its wormhood are numbered, 
it looks out for a good locality in which to spin its 
cocoon. It calls not upon its insect-neighbors to 
make its shroud and lay it in its tomb, but proceeds 
in a business way to weave its own grave-clothes out 
of material of its own spinning, and to lay itself 
down to rest and wait till its great change shall be 
complete. It takes it about three days to make its 




Fig. 69.— The Silkworm in all Stages of its Existence. 



232 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

cocoon, during which it makes no less than three 
hundred thousand movements, or a little more than 
one every second. 

" This part of its work being done, it gradually 
changes into a brown-red chrysalis, From fifteen 
to seventeen days the little worm seems to rest 
within its chrysalis-case. But it is not resting. 
There are remarkable changes going on within this 
dark workshop of Nature, which are the result of a 
wonderful activity. The entire form of the cater- 
pillar undergoes a complete change. Thousands of 
distinct eyes, all acting together, are set on each side 
of its head. Feather-like horns are placed on the 
head near the eyes. Wings attach themselves to 
the sides of the thorax, and these are covered with 
scales which serve for ornament as well as protec- 
tion. The pro-legs of the caterpillar are rejected, 
and the six legs of the insect assume proportions 
and a length adapted to the new life on which it is 
destined to enter. When all the apparatus of life 
needed in its new state of existence is complete, and 
its instinct moves it to seek release from its im- 
prisonment, it splits open the dry casing in which 
it is confined, and is ready to make its way through 
the outer silken wall of its prison, that it may en- 
joy the freedom of its higher life." 

" But how can the poor thing ever make its way 
through such a covering of silk ? It seems to me 
it would certainly perish in the attempt," said 
James. 



THE SILKWORM. 233 

"It can easily overcome that difficulty," said 
Uncle Samuel. " It has a little vessel in its head 
containing a peculiar liquid, which, as soon as it 
lias freed itself from the chrysalis, it throws out on 
the cocoon. The threads of silk are moistened by 
this liquid, but not broken. All it has then to do 
is to push aside the moistened threads and go forth 
into the daylight beyond. 

" When it first stands upon its cocoon and takes 
a survey of its new situation, its wings are wet and 
folded back on themselves. But they do not long 
remain so. They begin immediately to expand and 
take their proper shape, and soon the silkworm, 
with its new organs and new tastes, is ready to per- 
form the duties and drink in the pleasures of its 
new life. 

"Before laying her eggs the female selects with 
care a locality in which they will be safe and where 
the young will find abundance of food. She then 
lays them side by side, covering each with a liquid 
which glues it to its place. She lays from three 
hundred to six hundred eggs. When they are all 
laid, which usually takes about three days, having 
fulfilled her mission and provided for her offspring, 
she dies. When the little worm is ready to leave 
the egg it gnaws a hole through the shell and es- 
capes. It is from the first provided with apparatus 
for cutting the leaf upon which it feeds, and it loses 
no time in putting this apparatus to a good use." 

During this unusually long talk our young natu- 



234 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

ralists were intensely interested. They knew that 
the silk bought in the family came from the other 
side of the ocean, but they never before knew the 
history of the wonderful little worm that manu- 
factured the material out of its own substance. 
The little girls w r ere specially interested, and won- 
dered if the worms knew they were spinning silk 
to make ribbons and dresses for them. Charlie lis- 
tened thoughtfully, and as his uncle progressed in 
his story his thoughts took shape and he now spoke 
for the first time. 

" I wonder," said he, " of what use the silkworm 
would have been in the world if man had never 
been created ? No other animal could have used 
the fine silk of its cocoon, and, as the result proves, 
it was certainly intended for use beyond the simple 
protection of the chrysalis. It seems to me that God 
designed the material of the cocoon to meet the 
wants of man, and for this reason he gave skill to 
the worm to manufacture the silk, and Avisdom to 
man to discover its usefulness and the genius to 
work it up into garments and other articles neces- 
sary to his comfort. Does not the fitness of the 
silkworm to the wants of man prove unity of de- 
sign in the creation and structure of each ?" 

" Your reflections are very good and your ques- 
tion pertinent, and it certainly admits of but one an- 
swer, and that an affirmative one. It is very strange 
that any reflecting mind should fail to seethe unity 
of design, so manifest in the different departments 



THE SILKWORM. 235 

of nature — how one animal is made to minister to 
the welfare of another, and how one part of nature 
depends on another for its continued existence and 
comfort. You study natural history profitably if 
you notice carefully the evidence it affords of the 
wisdom and goodness of God. All his works 
praise him, and should not we ?" 

This long talk exhausted the evening hours, and 
was a fitting preparation for the family religious 
services to which they were called just now. The 
scene changed from the study to the family-room, 
but the latter presented a no less interested group 
of listeners when Uncle Samuel read the Scriptures 
and led in prayer for a blessing on the household 
for the night. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

SPIDERS NOT TRUE INSECTS — ORIGIN OF THEIR 
FAMILY NAME, ARACHNIDS — THEIR WONDERFUL 
SPINNING-MACHINE — SPIDER'S FOOT MAGNIFIED 
- — THE SPIDER GETS ITS LIVING HONESTLY — WHY 
CALLED A GEOMETRICIAN — STRUCTURE OF ITS 

WEB — MORAL SPIDER-WEBS MYGALE NIDULANS 

— MYGALE CEMENTARIA — ITS CUNNING EVIDENCE 
OF INTELLIGENT DESIGN — MORAL SUGGESTIONS — 
INFLUENCE OF THE STUDY OF NATURAL HISTORY. 

" T OOK here, quick, uncle ! See this splendid 
-*-^ spider and its pretty home. Its fine large 
net is as evenly knit as Charlie's fish-net, and it 
sits in the middle of it as proud as a king. Here 
it is on this lilac-bush. Just look at the old spider! 
Isn^t he independent, though ? But what an ugly- 
looking insect he is ! I would rather hold a great 
hairy caterpillar in my hands than him." 

When the impulsive little Mary thus addressed 
her uncle he was walking in the garden indulging 
in one of his meditative moods on a pleasant after- 
noon in midsummer, not observing that the children 
were also there, looking about among the bushes 
and vegetables for objects of interest. Looking 
around, he saw the little group gazing intently upon 

236 



THE SPIDER. 



237 



the home of a spider, which remained in its position 
all uneonseious of being the object of attraction to 
so many intelligent eyes. 

" Yon are mistaken, Mary," said Uncle Samuel, 
" when you call the spider an insect But you can 



oM$^ 




il(j. 70.— The SpjDtit at Hojim. 

be excused, since some naturalists have classed it 
among the insects. If you count its legs, you will 
find that it has eight, while insects have only six 
legs, and the spider has no antennae, as insects have. 
Nor are its eyes, like the eyes of a moth, made up 
of a great many small eyes united in one, but they 
are simple, and vary so greatly in different spiders 



238 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

that they are divided into groups according to the 
kind of eyes they have. The number of the eyes 
of the spider is four, six, eight or ten, according to 
the group. These are all without eyelids, and are 
covered with a hard, polished, transparent crust. 
Being immovable, they are multiplied, and so located 
as to enable the spider to see in all directions. 

" They belong to the same general division of the 
animal world with insects — the articulates — but they 
are only a kind of thirty-second cousins to them. 
Now, you know that such a distant relationship as 
that is not worth minding. So they are set off by 
naturalists as part of a family which includes scor- 
pions and mites — a rather disreputable brotherhood. 
This family is called Arachnidce. The true spiders 
form the section Araneidce. You must not, how- 
ever, despise spiders because they have bad rela- 
tions, for with all their faults you will find in them 
very much to admire and esteem. " 

" Tell us all about spiders, uncle," said Henry. 
" I never thought of their not being insects. Mother 
often says when she sweeps one down from the ceil- 
ing, ' The ugly insect ! kill it ; it always puts itself 
where it's not wanted/ How do they spin their 
fine silk ? and what spider is this one which has 
made for itself such a beautiful web ?" 

"Come, then, let us sit down in the summer- 
house ; and, James, please go to my study and bring 
my portfolio ; I will need some drawings it contains. 
Our position will permit us to watch the spider and 



THE SPIDER'S NAME. 239 

sec what it does when a fly becomes entangled in its 
nek" 

As soon as they were seated and the portfolio 
was brought, Mary seated herself close to her un- 
cle, for she felt that the spider-talk belonged spe- 
cially to herself as the discoverer of the spider- 
net. 

" You will want to know how the spider came to 
have such a learned family name. According to an 
ancient story, there once lived in Lydia, a country in 
Asia Minor, a beautiful lady who was a very skill- 
ful spinner, and whose name was Arachne. She 
was a very ambitious young lady, and believed that 
she could spin faster and better than Minerva, the 
goddess of wisdom ; so Miss Arachne challenged 
the goddess to a spinning-match. The challenge 
was accepted, and when Minerva saw that the 
young lady of Lydia was about to gain the day, 
she struck her on the forehead with a spoke of her 
wheel. This so insulted Arachne that she went 
away and hanged herself, and the goddess, repent- 
ing of her rashness, kindly turned the young lady 
into a spider, so that she might spin for ever; so 
the story goes. So the spiders have been very great 
spinners ever since, and they keep up the custom 
still of hanging themselves by a thread when in- 
sulted, as perhaps you have seen the garden-spiders 
do. Hence they are called Arachnidce in Greek 
and Araneidce in Latin." 

" Yes," said Bertha, " the thread seems to come 



240 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

right out of the spider. I wonder where it gets the 
thread? Does it make it, uncle ?" 

"The c spinning-machine' of the spider is so won- 
derful and yet so simple that I must describe it to 
you. If you examine the hinder extremity of the 
abdomen of the common house-spider (Aranea do- 
mestica), you will find on its under side four protu- 
berances of a cylindrical shape, which are called 
spinnerets. Each spinneret is furnished with tubes 
so very fine that a thousand of them are found in a 
space not much larger than the point of a pin. From 
each of these tubes proceeds a single strand, which 
unites with all the other strands to make one thread, 
so that the spider's thread, often so fine as to be al- 
most invisible, is composed o{four thousand strands. 
Naturalists say that some spiders have five, and oth- 
ers six, spinnerets, each of which has one thousand 
strands, making the resultant thread to be a rope 
of five or six thousand strands. The silk is pro- 
duced from the food by a process going on in sev- 
eral silk-reservoirs within the animal, where it re- 
mains until it is needed. 

"We admire the spinning process invented by 
Arkwright and perfected by others, but human 
skill has never produced machinery that rivals the 
spider's spinning-jenny. I have read of a manu- 
facturing firm in Manchester, England, that pro- 
duced cotton thread so fine that one pound of it 
would reach ten hundred and twenty-six miles, but 
it was too delicate to be handled or applied to any 



THE SPIDER'S FOOT. 241 

useful purpose. The spider exceeds this every day. 
While it spins a thread of much greater fineness, it 
applies it to the most useful purposes — the captur- 
ing of its prey and the building of its dwelling- 
houses and sailing vessels. Travelers tell us that 
in Java spiders' webs are met with so strong as to 
require to be cut through with a knife. 

u But, uncle, I do not see why a spider must have 
so many strands in one thread, for all the use it puts 
it to," said Mary. 

" There may be two reasons for this arrangement, 
Mary. First, the dividing the threads into so many 
strands favors their rapid drying, which is very ne- 
cessary, because the spider wants to use his strong 
ropes just as soon as they are spun. Secondly, the 
union of so many threads in one greatly strengthens 
the cord, and it is necessary to the life of the spider 
that the threads of its net be strong; enough to resist 
the force of the flight of a strong fly and hold it till 
it is captured. 

"The only other instruments used in spinning 
are its feet, with the claws of which it guides or 
separates into two or more the line from behind. 
Here is a drawing of the spider's foot as seen 
through the microscope. (Fig. 71.) You observe 
that it is triple-clawed. One of the claws acts as a 
thumb, the other two being toothed like a comb for 
gliding along the lines. With these two claws it 
keeps the threads apart. When the spider ascends 
the line by which it has let itself down, it winds up 

16 



242 



RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 



the cord into a ball. For this purpose it uses the 
third claw, which I have called its thumb." 

" How did the word cob-iveb originate ?" asked 
Charlie. 

" The old Dutch word for spider was coppe, and 
from that word sprang the word cob-web, meaning 
spider-web. This word always 
suggests the idea of neglect or 
desertion, because spiders' webs 
are found in deserted places, 
being swept away where active 
life is £oino; on. It is not re- 
garded as an evidence of good 
housekeeping when spiders are 
permitted to retain possession 
of the corners of the ceilings. 
Hogarth, when he wished to 
represent charity as neglected, 
closed the charity-box, in one 
of his pictures, with a cob-web. 
There is a legend among the 
Jews that when David entered 
the cave of Adullam a spider wove a web acroes the 
entrance of the cave so quickly that Saul passed it 
by, convinced that David could not have entered it 
for refuge. 

" The spider whose net you have so much admired 
is called Epeira diadema. It is very frugal and 
industrious. It means to secure a living, and, in 
its way of thinking, an honest living. Is it not 




Fig. 71.— Spider's Foot. 



THE SPIDER'S WEB. 243 

just as honest for the spider to trap insects as it is 
for boys and men to trap the hare and shoot the 
deer? Is it not more innocent than for boys to rob 
birds' nests ? I think it is. You must not, there- 
fore, condemn the spider because he captures the 
innocent fly. The beneficent Creator has given it 
an instinct by which it weaves a net for catching its 
prey, and has provided it with material for this pur- 
pose. In living as it does it is evidently carrying 
out the end of its being and keeping other insects in 
check, and should therefore be praised for its faith- 
fulness, rather than condemned for its cruelty/' 

" I read somewhere," said Charlie, " that the 
spider makes its web with the exactness of mathe- 
matics, and that it is therefore called a geometrician. 
Does it make calculations, lay down a plan for 
weaving its web, and work by it?" 

" The regularity of the spider's web, as you see, 
is very remarkable, considering that the builder had 
no scale for measurement and worked altogether by 
the eye, and perhaps never made a net before. It 
is in compliment to the evenness of its w r eb that it 
is called a geometrician, and not because the lines 
are accurately mathematical. 

" In the construction of its web the spider acts 
like a mathematician so far as to fix upon a centre 
of operations. From this centre a few lines of silk 
are drawn out and made fast to certain points which 
are to be the boundaries of the web. These points 
are next connected by a thread of silk which forms 



244 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. I 

the outer edge of the web. The centre is then con- 
nected with this line by numerous threads of silk, 
like spokes of a wheel. Now the framework of 
the web is completed, and our ingenious weaver 
draws out the concentric circles which you see are 
connected with those straight lines that pass from the 
centre to the circumference. With these circles the 
entire web is filled up, and its work is done. If 
you examine the web closely, you will find that the 
spider has covered some of the threads with a kind 
of glue or paste, which clings to the feet and wings 
of any insect which may happen to fly against 
it." 

" Isn't he cruel," said Bertha, "just to arrange 
his web so that the poor fly's feet will stick to it ? 
I think he means to catch every fly he can. How 
wicked !" 

" Not so wicked, after all. It is the spider's way 
of living, and if it is right for you to eat the flesh 
of the innocent turkey on your birthday, it is not 
wicked in the spider to catch the innocent fly and 
serve it up for its breakfast. So when the wonder- 
ful spinner has completed his fly-trap, he places 
himself in the centre, where he now is, and extend- 
ing his feet so as to touch all the rays of the web, 
he quietly waits till some unwary insect caught in 
his snare rouses him to action." 

" Just look I" said James ; " there is a fly caught 
in his web. See how it struggles to get free ! But 
the more it struggles the more it w T raps the web 



THE SPIDER. 245 

about it. Now its wings are all covered, and the 
spider is striking it with its claws. Poor thing !" 

" Its claws are poisonous/' continued Uncle Sam- 
uel, " and hence its strokes are fatal to the fly. But 
the poison that kills the fly doesn't make it unfit 
for food for the spider. Already he is drinking 
the juices he draws out of the fly, and enjoys them 
as much as Bertha did the turkey." 

"But suppose/' said Mary, whose sympathies 
were now enlisted on behalf of the spider, " no fly 
should come in the way of the net all day, and all 
the next day and the next, what would the poor 
spider do for something to eat? Would he not 
starve if the flies should all agree to fly to some 
other place and leave the web alone?" 

"This little animal/' replied Uncle Samuel, "is 
so made that it can live many days without food 
and not suffer from hunger. This wise provision 
for the continued well-being and happiness of this 
apparently insignificant creature shows how much 
the Creator loves the works of his hands, and it 
ought to teach you to trust in him to sustain and 
provide for you, seeing that you are of more value 
than millions of spiders. 

"I always pity the innocent fly that is so unfor- 
tunate as to take the direction across which such a 
net is placed, for I know there is no help for it. It 
must die a cruel death. Its enemy is stronger than 
it is, and has it in his power ; and when I look at 
its vain struggles for liberty and life ; I think of 



246 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS, 

many unfortunate boys and girls who have been 
caught in more fatal snares and who are not as ig- 
norant as the fly. You cannot teach the fly any- 
thing. It was not made to be taught. So when I 
see it entangled in the spider's web I say, 'Poor 
thing ! it could not help it ; it did not know any 
better/ 

" But when boys are told that there are fatal soul- 
nets — webs of death — in every drinking-saloon, bil- 
liard-saloon and theatre in the land, and that if they 
visit these places for amusement they may be caught 
by a terrible enemy, worse than any spider, who will 
strike them with his poisonous claws, and they will 
not listen to the voice of warning or care what 
may become of their souls, but enter in and are 
ensnared and lost, I greatly pity them, but I say, 
1 What fools, to put themselves in the power of 
their greatest enemy when they knew better! 5 

" Now, my dear young friends, I want you to go 
around all these soul-traps which the devil lias set 
for you. It may take you some time to get round 
them, and require some effort, but you will reach the 
true end of life sooner and more safely by doing so. 
If the poor fly that was just caught and devoured 
had only gone around the spider's web, it would 
have lengthened its flight, but it would have reached 
the end of its journey in safety. It took, however, 
what seemed to be the most direct and agreeable 
course, and it was caught by its foe ; and that was 
the last of it. 



THE MASONSPIDEFL 247 

" If you want to succeed in business, do not enter 
into an unlawful occupation, no matter how much 
money you can make at it; for if you do you will 
be caught in a soul-snare, and that will be the last 
of you. You may gain wealth and ease and world- 
ly honors, but you will lose your soul. Commence 
active life in an honest business, do your work well, 
never be above your business, never act against eon- 
science, never go into bad company, and, although 
you may not seem to be prospering as some godless 
men do, you will form for yourselves a good reputa- 
tion, and in the end, if not wealthy, you will be 
respected and happy." 

" I read a curious account of a spider found in 
the West Indies," said Charlie, "that makes its nest 
in the ground. It digs a hole in the earth obliquely 
downward about three inches in length and one in 
diameter. This cavity it lines with a tough, thick 
web, as tough as leather. This long deep home has 
a door hung on hinges, which is opened and shut 
whenever the occupant passes and repasses. Is not 
this a remarkable spider?" 

" It certainly is. But there are many such spi- 
ders in the tropical regions ; they are called mason- 
spiders, because they use sand and clay in construct- 
ing their nests. The spider whose nest you describe 
is called Mxjgale nidulans, and a full account of it 
may be found in Darwin's Zoonomia. It borrows 
its generic name from a Greek word, which means a 
shrew-mouse, and is so called because it burrows in 



248 



RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 



the ground like its namesake. Its name nidulans 
means nest-digging ; so you have its name in Eng- 
lish — the nest- digging shrew-mouse" 

" What a queer name for a spider !" said Bertha. 
11 1 think the people that live there don't know much 
when they call a spider a mouse/' 

" I have a picture in my portfolio of another 




Fig. 72.— Mason-Spider and Nest. 
A, the Best shut; B, the nest open; C, Mygale cemmtaria; D, the eyes, 
magnified ; E, F, parts of the foot and claws, magnified. 

spider of the same genus that makes its home in 
the south of France. (Fig. 72.) It name is Mygale 
cementaria. It is called cementaria because it is 
found in the region of the Cevennes Mountains — 



THE MASON-SPIDER. 249 

the name of the mountains and that of the spider 
being derived from the same Greek root. It is 
very careful to select for its nest a place that is bare 
of grass, and that slopes so as to carry off the water. 
It digs a hole perpendicularly about two feet in 
depth, and makes it large enough for the inmates to 
move up and down easily. When the walls are 
prepared, it lines them with very fine silk, which it 
glues fast to their surface. It closes the opening 
with a door constructed by fastening several layers 
of earth together with silk. This door is flat and 
rough on the outside, corresponding in appearance 
with the ground around it, so as to conceal the nest. 
It is convex on the inside, and lined thickly with 
fine, strong silk. This lining on one side of the 
door is so attached to the rim of the entrance 
as to form an excellent hinge. The door, when 
pushed open, shuts with its own weight. The 
spider ordinarily remains at the bottom of its deep 
den, but is so sensitive at every movement of the 
door that if any insect or other intruder attempts 
to open the door, it ascends immediately, and seiz- 
ing with its claws the silk lining of the door and 
clinging to the lining of the tube, it holds the door 
down with all its strength. If it is not strong enough 
to resist the entrance of the intruder, it retreats sud- 
denly to the bottom of its den and awaits the result. 
It leaves its home at night to capture its prey, which 
it brings to its den to eat at its leisure." 

" This spider," said Charlie, " shows a great deal 



250 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

of cunning in making the outside of its door flat 
and rough, so that no insect wandering near would 
suspect that there was danger close by. In this 
provision one cannot help seeing evidence of intel- 
ligent design." 

" Your conclusion is the only logical one that 
could suggest itself to a thinker, and it is wonder- 
ful that any person can study the history of the 
animal world and doubt the existence and attributes 
of the great Jehovah. But the device of this 
cunning spider suggests similar devices employed 
by the spirit of evil among men. It has always 
been its plan to conceal itself. Infidelity sometimes 
hides itself under the style and language of honesty, 
and deceives by its very semblance to truth. Satan 
appears among men as an angel of light, and deceives 
many. So it happens that very many young, un- 
suspicious persons are caught in the trap that is in- 
geniously dug for them, and the door is shut down 
on them, and they are either kept there always or 
fight their way out with great difficulty. 

" Evil companions are trap-door spiders. They 
are very polite, kind, accommodating, pliant, and 
sometimes intelligent. They will agree with you in 
everything, go with you to church, talk religiously, 
and even put on the appearance of great piety, if 
all this is necessary to get you in their power. But 
this is only the outside finish of the trap-door that 
conceals from your view a wretchedly wicked heart 
and deep-laid schemes for your ruin. Alas ! how 



MORAL TEACHINGS, 251 

many unwary and trustful souls have been deceived 
by such treacherous companions, and have become 
their unhappy victims for life. You are young and 
unsuspicious; you have not seen so much of the 
wickedness of the world as have we who are older. 
You must take our word for it that there are dan- 
gers against which you must be on your guard. 

" Take warning from the story of the mason- 
spider. Think of the name trap-door spider which 
its concealed den has earned for it, and beware of 
the moral trap-door spielers which are concealed 
along your life-journey. You need a guide to 
point them out to you and to keep you from fall- 
ing into their concealed pitfalls. God has given 
you such a guide in the person of his Son Jesus 
Christ. Only follow him and you will be kept 
from all harm, and your feet will never glide into 
any of these pits of moral evil." 

Uncle Samuel never failed to impress his young 
friends with the moral lessons which the revelations 
of animal life suggested ; and it w T as difficult to tell 
whether his eager pupils were more apt to learn the 
facts which he taught them or to practice the laws 
of life which he so forcibly illustrated by the hab- 
its of the insects with which he made them familiar. 
It is certain that religion had a stronger hold upon 
their young minds at the close of each conversation 
because of the light which was cast upon duty, and 
the evidence each insect afforded of the wisdom, 
kindness and faithfulness of God. At the conclu- 



252 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

sion of Uncle Samuel's story his little earnest crowd 
of listeners was dismissed to the croquet-ground to 
enjoy themselves a while before supper, while he 
continued his meditative walk among the flowers, 
glad at heart that he was able to add so materially 
to the enjoyment of his nephews and nieces, who 
were so eager to obtain knowledge. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

the water-spider — history of the argyroneta 
aquatica — story of the ancient nymphs — 
how this spider builds its air-castle under 
water — the water-spider at nome — charlie 
learns a lesson of courage in face of diffi- 
culties — the raft-spider, dolomedes fimbri- 
atus — how it builds its raft — always look- 
ing out for its prey — thoughtless insects 
its victims — the great spiritual raft-spider 

— raft-spider's mission moral supper-bell 

closes the talk — something about the prog- 
ress of our young naturalists in their study 
of natural history — close of the story of 
uncle samuel's rambles. 

" TUST see how it skims over the water faster 
*J than a cluck can swim," said Mary, 
u There !" said James, " it dives under the water; 
see, it is up again, giving a flirt in the air as if it 
were shaking itself dry. It don't mind the water, 
as that spider did that we put on a little paper-boat 
in a basin of water yesterday. It would put out one 
of its fore feet and touch the water, and draw it up 
again, as if it were saying to itself, ' I must keep on 
dry land ; there is no walking on the water, that's 

253 



254 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

certain.' Then, you know, when we took the boat 
from under it, it sank to the bottom, and when 
taken out it was wet all over and could scarcely 
walk with its load of water/' 

Our young naturalists were making observations 
by the side of a pool in which some water-spiders 
had made their homes, having become greatly in- 
terested in their novel and strange habits. They 
had supposed that spiders were confined to the land, 
and their experiment with a garden-spider had con- 
firmed this belief. But now they saw something 
which was to them very much like a miracle — a 
real spider sporting in the water like a fish. Could 
it be that it had its home there? They saw no 
web nor anything that looked like a spider's house. 
When the spider sprang up in the air it seemed to 
them to be carrying a ball of glittering silver. It 
did not remain long above the water, but would 
dive back again and hide itself for a few moments 
among the plants under the surface. What did it 
do down there? How did it get air to breathe 
under the water? 

These questions our young naturalists could not an- 
swer satisfactorily. They conjectured many things, 
but, like older philosophers who endeavor to account 
for what is beyond their knowledge, they could not 
prove any of their conjectures to be true. 

It was very fortunate for them that just at this 
time Uncle Samuel happened to pass that way while 
taking his afternoon walk. I say happened, not 



THE WATEBrSPIDER. 255 

because it is the best word possible — for I do not 
believe that anything happens by chance — but be- 
cause his appearance just then and there did seem 
so much like a fortunate occurrence that we cannot 
blame our young friends for thinking that he came, 
by some good luck, just at the very moment when 
they wanted him most. 

" We are so glad you happened here just now, 
uncle !" said Bertha. " We've been watching a lit- 
tle spider in the water, and it's the 'cutest thing you 
ever saw. It cuts all kinds of pranks on the water, 
and dives under and stays down almost long enough 
to drown itself. But it don't drown ; it comes right 
up again, and jumps up and shines as bright as sil- 
ver. What does it do in the w r ater? Does it live 
there ? How can it ? And how can it catch flies 
to eat when it has no web?" 

Bertha's description of the habits of the spider 
was full enough to enable Uncle Samuel to recog- 
nize the species to which it belonged, and he was 
ready at once to tell them all about the wonderful 
air-castle it built for its home under the water. 

" The spider you saw is a water- spider," said 
Uncle Samuel. " It would find as much difficulty 
in making a living on dry land as the beautiful 
garden-spider would find in making its living in 
the water. The good God has adapted each of his 
creatures to the kind of life it lives, and has richly 
provided for the comfort and happiness of all kinds 
of spiders. 



256 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

" If the instinct of the spider guides it to seek 
its prey in deserted halls, or in kings' palaces, or 
among the garden shrubbery, he gives it a perfect 
spinning-apparatus and material with which to con- 
struct a web, as a net, to ensnare the unsuspecting 
fly, the dainty food on which it lives. If its in- 
stinct leads it to make its home in the ground, it is 
supplied with strong claws for burrowing and skill 
to conceal its burrow by means of a very ingenious 
trap-door, while it makes its little home tasteful 
and comfortable by lining it with a silken kind of 
felt that no animal but itself can make. 

u If its food can be found only on the surface of 
the gently flowing stream or the sleeping lake, it is 
gifted with a talent for constructing just such a sail- 
boat as it needs, and mounted on its tiny leaf- vessel 
it goes forth w r atching for its prey and successfully 
capturing it. Or if it be a pirate spider, it needs no 
boat or raft, but glides upon the surface of the 
water in pursuit of its prey. As one has said of 
this species, 

'They bathe unwet their oily forms, and dwell 
"With feet repulsive on the dimpling well/ 

" If it is prompted to build an air-castle under 
the water, its instinct does not fail it, and its struc- 
ture and its skill enable it to confine globules of air 
in the midst of the water, so that it can rest in calm 
security in its air-hall waiting for the approach of 
the insect on which it makes its breakfast. 



THE WATER-SPIDER. 257 

u The spider which attracted your attention is one 
which builds its palace of air under the surface of 
the water. Scientific men have given it a very long 
and high-sounding name for a spider. They call it 
Argyronda aquatica. This name means water- 
nymph" 

" What are nymphs, uncle?" asked Mary. 

" Charlie has been studying ancient history, and 
ought to be able to tell you," answered Uncle 
Samuel. 

"I think I can," said Charlie. "The ancient 
Greeks believed that all Nature was filled with 
spirits, and these spirits were sometimes called 
nymphs. So they had nymphs of the groves, of 
the valleys, and of the sea. They believed that 
the sea-nymphs lived in caves and grottoes on the 
coast; that at night they glided along the shore; 
that their hair hung down their backs in beautiful 
flowing tresses studded with coral and pearls. They 
said that when their prince, who was a son of Nep- 
tune the sea-god, would give a blast on his shell, 
they would all plunge into the blue water to attend 
the chariot in which the wife of Neptune rode out 
for her health. They are described as very hand- 
some women, who always sat astride of dolphins 
when they took a ride on horseback. I suppose 
this spider is called a nymph because it dives into 
the water and makes its home there." 

" I don't think a spider looks much like a hand- 
some young lady," said Henry. " Naturalists must 



258 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

have a strong imagination to fancy that such a 
diminutive thing as a spider was a god with flow- 
ing tresses, though I can see how this spider would 
suggest the idea that it was studded with pearls, 
for it glitters just like the most brilliant pearl 
when it leaps out of the water." 

" Well now that you know its name, I must tell 
you how this curious little water-nymph builds its 
house in the water and supplies it with air ; for its 
palace is a wonderful specimen of architecture, and 
reflects great honor upon the taste and skill of the 
aquatic animal as a practical philosopher. When 
it resolves to provide a home for itself, it first fixes 
upon the place where its habitation shall be placed, 
as any wise man would. For this purpose it goes 
among the water-plants, and soon finds a location 
exactly to its taste. The next thing is to build the 
framework of its palace, which, spider-like, it makes 
out of silk cords of its own spinning. These cords 
are attached to the plants so as to make a room 
large enough for itself and whatever prey it may 
happen to capture. As soon as the framework is com- 
pleted and the rafters are put in their places, it covers 
the whole with a liquid varnish that makes the walls 
and roof air- and water-tight, and so elastic as to 
expand and contract readily. When building it is 
careful to leave a door open in the under side or 
floor of the palace, through which it can enter at 
pleasure. When it is thus far completed it is still 
unfit for occupancy until the water is excluded. 



THE WATEB-SPIDEB. 



259 




Fig. 73.— The Water-Spider at Home. (From Wood's Homes 
Without Hands.) 

So our little builder sets about the work of filling 
its new house with air. Now its practical philoso- 
phy comes into use. It knows that the air must 



260 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

come from the atmosphere above the water, and 
must be carried down through the water to the 
place made ready for it. So it prepares a vessel for 
this purpose, made of material like that of the 
palace, and fixes it under its body. (Fig. 73.) 

" Carrying its vessel with it, it rises to the top of 
the water, and giving itself a fling into the air, the 
vessel is at once filled. It is the air in its clear ves- 
sel which gives it the appearance of bright silver or 
clear pearl when it is seen above the water. Sup- 
plied with its load of air, it dives into the water, 
and, inserting its abdomen in the door of its palace, 
it empties the air, which, rising to the ceiling, ex- 
pels some of the water. This operation is repeated 
till all the water is displaced with air. Now the 
palace is ready for its occupant, and here it can 
calmly repose, undisturbed by the commotions which 
agitate the surface of the pool, and peacefully eat its 
food and rear its offspring. This picture will give 
the reader some idea of the air-castles built by this 
spider. Here you see this interesting little creature 
in his own home. 

"As soon as the mother-spicier has finished the 
work of building, she lays her eggs and encloses 
them in a saucer-shaped bag which she fixes against 
the inner side of the cell near the top. In this bag 
are about one hundred eggs, spherical in shape and 
very small. This cell, or air-castle, is the spider's 
true home. Here she makes provision for her off- 
spring, and here she sets her own table, and by her 



THE WATER-SPIDER. 2G1 

foraging she provides it with all the delicacies of 
the season. Here the young spider first opens its 
eyes upon the world to find abundance of food laid 
up for it by a kind mother. Nothing is required 
of the large family of infant spiders but to eat the 
food within their reach and to grow and become 
strong for the life-duties awaiting them. 

" When they are ready to leave home they go 
forth to employ the same astonishing instinct in 
the building of similar homes for themselves and 
their offspring. Thus it has always been. A kind 
and benevolent God has fitted these little spiders 
for a life of industry and beneficence, and they 
enter upon their life-work as though conscious of 
their destiny, showing a wonderful earnestness and 
perseverance." 

u What an interesting history!" said Charlie. 
" I think I shall never be driven back from duty 
because of difficulties that lie in the way. I will 
always think of this little spider and its air-castle 
in the water, and never become discouraged. What 
can be more difficult than to build such a palace 
surrounded with water ! One globule of air after 
another is carried down through the water by the 
persistent spider till the chambers of its palace are 
filled. It rests not till its work is done. Nothing 
turns it aside from its great purpose. It means not 
to live in vain." 

"I shall be well paid for my little story if you, 
dear young friends, will be governed by the lesson 



262 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

the water-spider teaches you. Like it, I want you 
to live with the future ever in view, and to live for 
the future. Make your deeds and name the inher- 
itance of your race. Live for a purpose. Under- 
take nothing but that which is great and noble, and 
accomplish what you undertake. Be always gov- 
erned by the true end of human life — the glory of 
God — and, like this little spicier, you will fulfill the 
end of your being." 

" We saw another spider," said Henry, rather ab- 
ruptly — for, boy like, he was becoming a little im- 
patient while Charlie and his uncle were talking 
about the moral lessons that spiders teach — " and it 
was a very curious spider too— curious in its habits, 
I mean. It w T as seated on a roll of leaves that 
looked for all the world as if they had been fas- 
tened together somehow just for the spider's own 
use, and it was floating on the water. (Fig. 74.) 
Every now and then it would leap into the water, 
and walk on it as if it were on the ground, and after 
a while go back and leap on the raft again. Some- 
times it would catch little insects that would hap- 
pen to fall on the water near it. Tell us about that 
spider. What is its name, and how does it make a 
living ?" 

" Among spiders as among men, every spider to 
his trade. The spider you speak of would soon die 
if it were compelled to earn its living as the water- 
nymph does. It makes its living in a very differ- 
ent way, but one much better suited to its tastes 



THE RAFT-SPIDER. 



263 



and Instinct Did you notice how much it differed 
from the other spider in appearance?" 

"Yes," said James, "it was larger and much 
more beautiful. Its color was chocolate-brown, 
and a broad orange band marked the outline of 
the upper part of its chest and abdomen. There 




Fig. 74.— The Raft-Spider. 

was a double row of small white spots upon the 
surface of its abdomen, and a number of short dark 
bars. Its legs were pale red. We all admired it 
very much." 

" It would have been a beauty if it hadn't been 
a spider," said Mary. " I don't like spiders, any- 



264 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

how. Tell us what to call it when we see it again. 
Does it know its own name ?" 

"I think not, little Inquisitive; at least this spi- 
der would need a good memory to remember the 
long name it has. It is called Dolomedes jimbria- 
tus. Here is work for Charlie, with his Latin and 
Greek lexicons, to find out why such a learned 
name was given it ; but as he has not his diction- 
aries here, I will try to explain its meaning. The 
first or generic name is Greek, and means crafty ; 
fimbriatus is Latin, and means fringed ; so we may 
suppose that the name was given it from its cha- 
racter. When rendered in our language the name 
is the fringed crafty spider, the broad orange band 
being the fringes of its dress ; but because it rides 
on the surface of the water on a raft it is better 
known as the raft-spider. You observed how it 
rode on its leaf-vessel, calm as an alderman and 
as contented as a sailor, as though it had taken the 
bearings of its rude boat and knew just why and 
where it was sailing. 

" Its raft is not a chance raft ; it designed and 
built it. It does not know how to spin a beauti- 
ful web like that of the garden-spider, but it knows 
how to make silk threads, and how to use them in 
putting together the different parts of the raft. It 
gathers a few leaves and fastens them together with 
cords, making the raft just large enough to answer 
its purpose. It then takes its position on it and 
sails out on the water in search of prey." 



THE RAFT-SPLDER. 265 

"How doos it guide its raft?" asked Henry. 

"It is borne by the wind or the current of the 
water. It needs no compass or sails or oars. The 
surface of the water is alive with insects, which 
supply our raftsman with game." 

"I think it might get sleepy/' said Bertha, "sit- 
ting so still on its little raft." 

"Catch it sleeping! I guess you don't; it didn't 
build its raft for a sleeping-place. Didn't you see 
its eyes ? How bright they are ! And it uses them 
well, watching keenly for the approach of its prey. 
I tell you there is a poor chance for a gnat or a 
May-fly to sport itself in the air if its pupa should 
be so unfortunate as to come up to the surface of the 
water near the leaf-boat of our keen-eyed sailor; and 
if a moth or a fly or a beetle should happen to fall 
on the water near our hero's boat, its efforts to regain 
the air would all be vain when once in his clutches. 

" But it is not content to sit on its raft and wait 
till its prey comes within its reach. It is not like 
some men who sit leisurely in their office, smoking 
and sleeping by turns, till some chance customer 
enters and asks for their services. No ; it looks 
out and far off for its customers. When it sees 
some water-insect at a distance enjoying itself in 
its quiet sports, it leaves its floating vessel, and, 
running swiftly over the water, captures its prey 
and brings it to the raft." 

" Good for the spider, but bad for the insect !" 
said James. 



266 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

" Insects are not always out of its reach when under 
water ; for sometimes, when it sees a dainty insect 
which it relishes bathing itself, it crawls down the 
stems of aquatic plants and catches it beneath the 
surface. Its ability to breathe for some time under 
water also protects it from its enemies, for when it 
sees its enemy coming it hides itself under the raft, 
and remains there till the danger is over. 

" If you look about you among boys and girls 
of your age — and among men too — you will see not 
a few who, like the thoughtless insects, are care- 
lessly sporting within the reach of enemies more 
dangerous than raft-spiders — soul-enemies, that 
are just ready to devour them. I think of this 
when I see the little boy-smokers puffing their ci- 
gars on the street and hear them using profane or 
obscene language, imagining that all this is manly. 
I think of it when I see boys and girls at their week- 
day sports, or young people riding out for pleasure, 
on the Lord's Day. Alas ! poor immortal insects ! 
the great raft-spider is after them, and before they 
are aware they will be caught in his snares and 
devoured at his leisure. 

"The raft-spider is industrious, frugal and 
watchful. It spends no time foolishly. It takes 
advantage of favorable opportunities. It values 
moments. It never permits delay to deprive it of 
its victim. So, when you are tempted to put off 
duty or to waste your time, think of the raft- 
spider, and be inspired by it to be prompt, in- 



GOD'S CARE OVER ALL. 267 

dustrious, faithful and energetic, and yon will be- 
come learned, useful and happy." 

Just as Uncle Samuel had finished his story the 
large farm-bell rang oat its clear notes, calling all 
absent members of the family home to supper. Of 
course our little company did not permit its call to 
pass unheeded. So, rising at once from their grassy 
seats by the side of the clear little lake, they re- 
turned, Bertha and Mary considering it their 
special privilege to take hold of their uncle's hands, 
one on each side, to be led by him. 

" I'm glad I'm not a spider," said Mary, " for 
they have no kind uncles to tell them nice stories." 

" Xor any good home to go to, as we have," said 
Bertha, " for as soon as they are grown up just a 
little their mothers leave them to make a living for 
themselves. I'm sure I never could make a living 
if I had to." 

"But God is kind to them," answered Mary, 
" for he teaches them how to make a living ; and 
they like it too. God knew we could not take care 
of ourselves till we should grow bigger, so he gave 
us good parents to care for us and to give us food 
and clothing." 

" Yes, and a good uncle, too, to tell us so many 
things about God," said Bertha, "and about the 
poor little insects — and spiders too, for we must re- 
member they are not exactly insects." 

Thus they continued recounting God's mercies to 
them, and expressing their joy that they were so 



268 BAMBLES AMONG IXSECTS. 

much better off than spiders, and of so much more 
value, till they arrived at home. Here they were 
soon engaged in discussing other matters around the 
supper-table. 

We have detailed but a few of the many inter- 
esting conversations w T hich Uncle Samuel had with 
his nephews and nieces during his stay in the coun- 
try. The limits of this small volume will not per- 
mit us to record his stories of the habits and in- 
stincts of numerous other insects which were caught 
by our industrious young naturalists. It would do 
you good to see the large collection of insects, rep- 
resenting almost all the departments of the insect- 
world, which they had gathered together by the 
close of the season, and under the instruction of 
Uncle Samuel had put in handsome cases. This 
was the beginning of a cabinet which in after years 
was greatly enlarged, especially in the department 
of the Lepidoptera. This cabinet contained not only 
representatives of home insects, but, as the result 
of correspondence and exchange, many specimens 
from other parts of this country and some from 
foreign lands. Their cabinet is still growing, and 
their knowledge of insect-life is still increasing, 
while their collection is an endless source of the 
purest enjoyment throughout the entire year. Char- 
lie has become quite proficient in the use of the 
microscope, and is making fresh researches in the 
different departments of natural science. These re- 



OSE OF THE INSECT STORIES. 269 

searches are deepening his reverence for God and 

increasing his admiration of the divine wisdom and 
beneficence as seen in creation. 

Bertha returned to her city home greatly im- 
proved in health, and with a knowledge of the 
marvelous faets of insect-life that made her a kind 
of wonder in the household. She had entered into 
this study with an enthusiasm that bore her over 
every difficulty, and greatly quickened her percep- 
tive faculties, so that her improvement was manifest 
to all. This single summer's communion with one 
department of God's works under the faithful 
teaching of her uncle developed her mind more 
than two years' study in the confined rooms of the 
city ward-schools could have done ; while the at- 
tendant physical exercise rendered her vigorous and 
healthful in body. She did not forget the interest- 
ing stories of her uncle, and as she had opportunity 
she continued to add to her collection of insects till 
her cabinet became the attraction of all visitors. 

If our recital of a few of those interesting talks 
that Uncle Samuel had with this group of earnest 
listeners and diligent students of Xature shall in- 
spire the young reader with a taste for the study of 
the structure and habits of insects, and induce him 
to reverence the goodness and wisdom of God dis- 
played in this part of the creation, we shall have 
accomplished the end for which this little book was 
sent forth. 



CHAPTEK XIX. 

uncle samuel's talk to the young readers of 
the " rambles" his directions to insect- 
hunters — chief requisite, enthusiasm the 

outfit — nets setting-boards — pins insect 

cabinet — rearing of larvae — an interest- 
ing letter where to find butterflies and 

moths — their food-plants — uncle samuel's 
farewell to his readers. 

UNCLE SAMUEL has a word to say to the 
readers of the "Rambles," and asks the 
liberty of adding a chapter for the purpose of tell- 
ing them how to collect insects, especially butter- 
flies and moths. I very cordially grant him this 
favor, for I know how much he loves all young 
people, and how greatly he is interested in the 
study of the insect department of the great sys- 
tem of nature. Here is what Uncle Samuel says : 

I hope that some of the enthusiasm that in- 
spired my nephews and nieces in our "Rambles 
among the Insects " has reached the readers of the 
stories in which these insects have been the chief act- 
ors, and that they have a desire to collect specimens 
of insects, and by forming a cabinet to prepare them- 

270 



DM&CTIONS TO INSECT-HUNTERS. 271 

solves for the practical study of insect-life. If you 
will all come into my study and he quiet a little 
while, I will tell you what kind of an outfit you 
ought to have, and what you must do with the 
captured insect in order to prepare it for taking its 
place in your cabinet, and how you are to place it 
there. Now, I do not want to talk to you to no 
purpose ; I want to aid you as a band of young in- 
quirers into the instincts and habits of these won- 
derful little creatures, so that you may know how to 
gather knowledge and to preserve your specimens 
for future examination. So you must give me your 
attention, and when you have put my instructions 
into practice I want you to write to me and tell me 
how you have succeeded, what insects you have 
caught, and how large your cabinet is. Some time 
in my journeyings I may visit you, and I shall be 
glad to find you earnest and diligent students of 
God's works, and to look upon your well-arranged 
cabinets of Lepidoptera and other insects. 

I intend to give you only a few directions which 
will serve you till you begin to collect an entomo- 
logical library, and then you will have books that 
will give you more full and specific instructions 
about collecting and preserving insects than I can 
give you in the limited space afforded in one chap- 
ter. One of the first books you ought to buy after 
reading this volume is " Packard's Guide to the 
Study of Insects/' and in it you will find very ac- 
curate and full directions to the young collector. 



272 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

You will also find " Green's Insect-Hunter's Com- 
panion " very helpful and suggestive ; " Harris's In- 
sects Injurious to Vegetation " is a valuable aid to 
the young collector. Study these carefully and 
follow the directions given, and you will soon be- 
come expert entomologists. You will find a good 
many hard words in them, but you can study these 
out. 

One of the first requisites is enthusiasm. This is 
necessary to success in any study ; it is specially 
needed by one who means to study natural objects, 
not from books merely, but also from Nature her- 
self. On the presumption that you are equipped 
with this inspiration, you are ready to provide 
yourself with an 

OUTFIT. 

As insects are to be caught on the wing, the most 
important part of the apparatus is the net. This 
can be purchased already made in some of the cities, 
but collectors must expect to manufacture their own 
apparatus, and the net can easily be made by at- 
taching to the end of a handle from four to six feet 
long — an old broom-handle can be made to answer 
this purpose— a ring from eight to ten inches in 
diameter, made of brass wire, on which is secured a 
bag of twenty inches in length, made of mosquito- 
netting or any thin but strong gauze. Some col- 
lectors have a neat cane with a nut at the lower end, 
into which the net is fastened by a screw. This is 



DIRECTIONS TO INSECT-HUNTERS. 273 

a very convenient arrangement, and it utilizes the 
handle when the collector is walking to the hunting- 
ground. It should be light enough to be used 
dexterously with one hand, and when an insect is 
captured a twist of the net will cover the opening, 
so that the insect cannot escape. After a little 
experience you will be able to remove the insect 
out of the net without damaging its wings or 
letting it escape. Very small insects ought to be 
put in your wide-mouthed bottle charged with 
chloroform, and closed in the bottle, which you 
can carry with you, a short time, before you 
attempt to take them them from the net. 

If you want to beat trees, bushes, and vegetation 
for beetles and larvae, you need a beating-net. This 
is made much stronger, with a shallow cloth bag and 
having a shorter handle. It is convenient for use 
in capturing insects that rest on the grass in 
meadows. The water-net may be made like the 
latter, but the bag should be of grass-cloth or coarse 
millinet. It is used for capturing insects in the 
water. 

The experience and necessities of the collector 
will suggest to him various little boxes, vials, and 
bottles, some containing alcohol or whiskey to be 
used for beetles and other insects which are pre- 
served in alcohol. For the killing of insects it will 
be convenient to have a wide-mouthed bottle hav- 
ing an air-tight stopper, inside of which is fastened 
a piece of sponge. By saturating this sponge with 

18 



274 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

chloroform the bottle will be filled with the vapor. 
When a moth or other insect is caught let it be put 
into this bottle, and it will very soon be suffocated. 
Having brought home from your insect-hunting 
several fine specimens, you will want to know how 
to prepare them for the cabinet. The first requisite 
will be — 

Setting-boards, on which the wings of insects 
may be spread. These can be made by sawing deep 
grooves in a thick board of soft wood, and placing 
a strip of cork or pith at the bottom. If you can- 
not procure either the cork or pith, you can do 
without by making a pin-hole in ihe bottom of the 
groove for the reception of the pin that holds the 
insect. The groove should be deep enough to allow 
a quarter of the length of the pin to project above 
the insect, and wide enough to receive the body of 
the insect. The surface of the board should incline 
slightly toward the groove, as the wings often fall 
down a little after removal from the board. 

The wings should be so set that the hinder 
margin of the fore wings will be at right angles 
with the body of the insect. This will enable you 
to draw the hind wings forward, so as to free their 
inner margin from the body, and thus expose their 
forms and markings. When thus arranged they are 
confined by pieces of soft paper pinned on each side 
of the wings, so as to hold them to their place. 
Square pieces of glass, which some use, are liable to 
remove or injure the scales by their weight. Moths 



DIRECTIONS TO INSECT-HUNTERS. ^75 

of medium size and butterflies should remain two 
or three days on the setting-board, but the large 
nun lis, such as the Sphingidse and the Bombycidce, 
should remain a week or more. Dried insects may 
be moistened by laying them for twelve or twenty- 
four hours in a box containing a layer of wet sand, 
covered with one thickness of soft paper. After 
they have become moistened and relaxed you can 
easily spread their wings. 

THE PINS 

that are most generally used are the Klager pins. 
They are bought in five sizes, so as to suit the larg- 
est or smallest insects. These pins are long and 
slender, and the insect is set so that one-fourth of 
the pin is above the insect. The pin should be in- 
serted through the thorax of moths and similar in- 
sects, and through the right wing-cover of beetles. 
Many Hemiptera are best pinned through the scu- 
tellum. 

INSECT CABINET. 

If you want to preserve your specimens for per- 
manent exhibition, you will need a cabinet of shal- 
low drawers protected by doors. Such a cabinet 
can be so constructed as to form an elegant piece of 
furniture, such as will adorn any drawing-room. 
The drawer may be eighteen by twenty inches square 
and two inches deep, covered with glass. These 
boxes should be lined on the bottom with thin slips 
of cork. These can be obtained from any cork man- 



276 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

ufacturer, and are usually twelve by four inches 
square and one-eighth of an inch thick, costing 
from $1 to $1.20 per dozen. 

If you wish your collection to adorn the walls of 
your parlor or study, shallow show-cases with a 
glass front can be made of any size you may desire, 
but otherwise like the drawers already described. 
You may then arrange the specimens so as to form 
a pleasing picturesque group of insects, or, scien- 
tifically, under the groups, families, or species. 
The latter is preferable on many accounts, and the 
classification is more readily perceived. The insects 
thus preserved may be kept from insect ravages by 
securing in the corners of the drawers or show- 
cases pieces of gum-camphor covered with some 
porous fabric. 

THE REARING OF l^KRYM 

is done in a vivarium, which every collector should 
provide for himself. In a small way tumblers may 
be used, by covering the bottom with moist soil in 
which the food-plant may be stuck, and drawing 
gauze over the top. Or small boxes may be used 
covered with mosquito netting, but it is better to 
provide large boxes, according to the wants of the 
collector, having sides covered with gauze, a glass 
cover, and a door through which larvae and their 
food can be inserted. The bottom should be cover- 
ed six or eight inches deep with fresh light soil 
taken from the woods, and this ought to be kept as 



DIRECTIOXS TO INSECT-HUNTERS. 277 

nearly as possible in its natural condition, so that 
when the larva penetrates it to pass into its pupal 
state it will be preserved in a healthy condition. 
The vivarium should be greatly used by the collector, 
because insects reared therein are the most perfect, 
and the habits and instincts of insects can only be 
readily learned by having them near you for con- 
stant observation. The history of new species is 
thus learned and fresh contributions made to entomo- 
logical science. I will close this chapter by letting 
you read a very interesting letter on this subject 
which was written at my request for your benefit 
by E. Pilate, M. D., of Dayton, Ohio, an enthusi- 
astic entomologist, and a very successful collector 
of Lepidoptera : 

" The best and surest way to get Lepidoptera eggs 
is to obtain them direct from fecundated females of 
perfect insects. Chance only may lead to the dis- 
covery of eggs deposited on plants or trees, although 
the female generally lays her eggs on or near the 
food-plant of her offspring, and they are concealed 
under the leaves or in the crevices of the bark. 
The larva of Papilio turnus feeds on apple, 
tulip-poplar, and wild-cherry trees; Papilio ajax, 
on paw-paw; Colias philodice, on clover and pea- 
vines; Danais archippiis on Asdepias syriaca 
(common milk-weed) ; Limenitis disippus, on wil- 
low ; Limenitis Ursula, on elm, etc. ; Pyrameis cardui, 
on thistles ; Junonia lavinia, on beggar's lice 
(Cynoglossum morisoni); Pyrameis atalanta, on 



278 RAMBLES AMONG INSECTS. 

nettles and poplar ; Vanessa antiopa, on willow and 
poplar; Grapta interrogationis on elm and black- 
berry. Many Sphingidse live on both wild and 
cultivated grapevines ; Bonibycidae, on oak, willow, 
and apple, as Platysamia ceeropia; Actias luna, 
on walnut, oak, and hickory ; Telea potyphemus, on 
oak, sycamore, and rosebush ; Callosamia promethea, 
on sassafras and wild-cherry. 

" Most larvae are more or less polyphagous (that 
is, they will eat several kinds of food), as a matter 
of necessity more than taste, when at liberty ; but 
in captivity very few will eat or even touch any 
food except that which they feed on in iufancy. 
The search for the chrysalis or pupae of moths will 
seldom succeed, except for those in cocoons, which 
are found in the fall of the year attached to small 
twigs or under the loose bark of trees, logs, and 
other hiding-places, 

" In warm seasons most chrysalides are hid out of 
reach at the tops of trees, while the larvae of the 
Sphingidae and Noctuidae go into the ground to 
undergo their pupa metamorphosis. Citheronia> 
Eacles, Anisota, etc. penetrate the soil to a depth 
of eight to fifteen inches or more." 

The best time for digging up pupae is the latter 
part of March or early in April, when the frost is 
entirely out of the ground. Great care must be 
used, so that the chrysalis is not injured. The 
larvae seldom go more than a foot from the tree on 



DIRECTIONS TO INSECT-HUNTERS. 279 

which they feed, so in digging it is best to begin 
about eighteen inches and dig toward the root of 
the tree. 

I now bid adieu to the young readers of the 
" Kambles," hoping to hear of their great success 
in collecting and preserving many splendid speci- 
mens of insects, and in acquiring an accurate 
knowledge of their very interesting instincts and 
of the manners and customs of their domestic 
life. 



THE END. 



